High School of DmC
by Randomperson nb2
Summary: After thousands of years roaming, a familiar presence that shouldn't exist anymore appears in Kuoh. Now named Issei, the(not so young) boy ventures in this town only to be drawn back to the supernatural and somewhat revisit his past.
1. Life 1-1

_In the supernatural world always existed beings that are considered myths or legends, such as The Heavenly Dragons. But there is one being that is revered as one of the strongest, know as_ _ **Sparda**_ _, The Legendary Dark Knight. He was the general of one of the first rulers of the Underworld,_ _ **Mundus,**_ _yet one day he turn his back on those he once considered comrades. The former general had two sons who also became legends, the eldest_ _ **Vergil**_ _, The Dark Slayer and the youngest,_ _ **Dante**_ _, who is know by the same title as his father or by_ _ **Devil hunter**_ _. Although is common knowledge the death of Sparda and Vergil, there only are rumors regarding the Devil Hunter, but that seems to be about to change soon.._

"So this is it huh?'' the boy muttered as he reached the front gates of the school where could be read "Kuoh Academy".

'Damn, this really gives the feels of a rich kids school' he thought as he observed the buildings and school grounds.

 **[Are you certain that this is where you will find the owner of that presence?]** spoke a voice inside the boys head.

'Yeah that's definitely the place, **Rebellion**.'

He entered the school grounds and went towards his classroom. On the way to the classroom, he could feel the gazes of the others students, not only because he was new there but also because he dosen't look japanese.

"Oh, you must be the new student,"the teacher said as soon as she saw him approaching the classroom "Just give me a moment to tell the class and i will call you."

He stood by the door waiting and after a few seconds he heard the teacher saying " Alright come in Hyoudou-kun".

As the student made no sign of moving, the the teacher walked to the door and spoke to him.

" Hyoudou-kun is everything alright?"

"Ah sorry I just dozed off for a minute haha"

'Crap, first day and I already had forgotten the name that I am using now' as soon as he entered, whispers began across the room.

"A foreigner as a new student?"

"He's so cute!"

"Look at his hair, it's so different!"

He stopped in front of the class, tried to give his best smile, causing some girls to slightly blush and others to almost swoon.

"Hello everyone, my name is Hyoudou Issei, I just recently arrived at Japan so please go easy on me,hope that we can be friends." Said the white-haired boy.

"Does anyone would like to ask something to Hyoudou-kun?"The teacher asked, causing a good number of hands to be raised.

Issei pointed at a girl. She stood up looking at what it looked like an amulet pending in the boys neck "Whats with your necklace Hyoudou-kun?"

He grabed the medalion and gave a barely noticeable sad smile"It was given to me by someone very important so I wear it to don't forget about her."

Various girls let out an 'Aw' after that, but quickly another girl stood up. "Was this person your girlfriend and are you dating now?"

Issei smirked a little. "The answer is no to both."making several girls relieved.

Next a boy wearing glasses stood up " I´m Motohama so tell me:WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE MAN!? THERES ALREADY ENOUGH POPULAR GUYS IN THIS SCHOOL!"he screamed and right after a good chunk of the girls in class began to maul him.

'This kid is annoying.'

 **[Well, you are getting a lot of attention from the girls, so its normal a human his age react like that.]** Rebellion spoke.

'Dosen't make it any more tolerable.'

 **[That I cannot deny.]**

"Alright thats enough, Hyoudou-kun please take a seat" the teacher said trying to control the class.

Issei sat close to the window and began to observe his surrodings.

 **[Hey partner, I know that it means a lot to you, but are you sure thats its okay to wander around with the Perfect Amulet on your neck? It could blown your cover.]** Rebelion pondered.

'Nah, I think it will be fine, very few people nowadays are aware of what this medalion is and those that know most likely aren't in this city, so the chances that anyone connect the dots to my old alias is quite low, after all anything related to The Legendary Dark Knight or Sparda is considered a myth for quite a long time. Also did you felt it as well?'

 **[Hum, yes it seems you're not the only supernatural being in this school, I sense at least eight devils but nothing like the one we are looking for.]**

'Yeah perhaps today the person didn't came to school, what about the seals, do you think they will be able to do the job? Because sooner or later the devils in here will definitely take notice of me.'

 **[They problably already realised that you are not entirely human or that you harbor something within you, making harder to get a grasp of you because of me and the other two, but I'm certain that those seals are hiding your imense power so that you do not need to keep controling it yourself, there is also a chance that other races aproach you so even if they don't stand a chance against you I would advise you to try to be friendly for now.]**

'Calm your horses, I'm aware that this town is currently under the control of the devils so I will do my best to make friendly ties with them and we dont know if the one we are looking for is on their side. Laying low for now is the best'

 **[Well if it things goes south it's not like you would be in danger.]**

'True that, after class lets look for some pizza.'the boy got up to take a walk on lunch break as Rebellion sighed at his owner somewhat carefree atitude in unknow territory.

At the end of the day, Issei walk by the gates of school on his "quest", aware that someone was watching him.

In one of the school buildings, two young women observe the boy while unaware that he had noticed them. Both considered beautiful, one was a Caucasian girl with blue-greenish eyes and a crimson-red hair, the other was a black-haired girl. "So that's Hyoudou Issei…" said the red-haired.

"It's his first day and he's already quite famous, a lot of people are commenting that his quite smart and are fascinated by his looks." Said the black-haired.

"He really seems quite interesting, even intriguing.." the red-haired girl continued while grinning.

 ** _Authors note: hey guys whats up? It's my first time trying to write so don't beat me too much pls, anyways heres the first chapter I hope you enjoy. Dante in the DXD universe would be or close to god classe, so pretty OP, also, english isn't my first language so my bad for any mistakes, if enjoy leave a review it would be much appreciated, until next time._**


	2. Life 1-2

By the end of his first day of school, Issei had already returned home with his beloved pizza. The place that he bought was a somewhat spacious apartements, with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room and lastly a room for storage. As soon as he arrived he dropped himself on the sofa and started to eat his dinner.

 **[Hey partner, there's something that I would like to ask you.]** Rebellion said after some time.

' _Oh yeah, whats up?'_

 **[I understand that since you decide to go to this school you used spells in order to look younger, you put seals on power as well and you also said that it was fine to carry your medallion since the chances that someone realises who you are is small, I am right?]**

' _You're on point so far.'_

 **[If those chances are so slim, then why put a fake name?]**

' _Eh?'_

 **[…]**

' _W-well, I mean, since we are doing this might as well do it all the way right?Haha'_ Issei sweat dropped a bit.

 **[You just did it out of a whim, didn't you?]**

' _Yeah, that's pretty much it.'_ Rebellion sighed.

' _It's fine, it's fine.'_

 **[I guess it is, what about the presence, the one that has it didn't go there today. Wouldn't be better to just go directly to the person?]**

' _There's a chance that it could be easier taking that approach or it could cause it's owner to become wary of us so I think this way will be better on the long run.'_

 **[Very well, I assume that you already notice that the devils are not anymore the only ones affiliated with the supernatural in this town?]**

' _Yup. I sense some Fallen Angels alongside the devils now. Looks like things could get lively really soon.'_ with that said, Issei smirked at this idea and resume eating his pizza.

In the next morning, as Issei entered the school, he could hear girls shouting a bit ahead and when he passed by te commotion he saw a group of girls almost ganging up on two boys, one was the same that screamed the other day in class, Motohama and the other his friend, Matsuda. Issei shrugged it off with a chuckle, already knowing that those two were called Perverted Duo, and resumed his walk to class.

On the OCR clubhouse, the old schoolhouse, Rias sat on her desk while looking at one of the windows of the room.

"Ara, still thinking about our new kouhai, Rias?"Akeno questioned while smirking.

"Yes, there's something about him that I can't quite put my finger in it, I'm even having doubts if it is a Sacred Gear that's inside of him"the red-haired said while turning to her friend.

"Is that so,"the black-haired girl added with a straight face. "What do think regarding the movements of the fallen angels?"

Rias frowned. "There's that too."

" Do you think they could be here after our newest addition?"

"If they are then they will only observe, but I believe it is more likely that they are after Hyoudou Issei, given that they showed up right after him."

"That could be it."Akeno said as she was making some tea.

"Just in case, I'll have Koneko tail him after school."

As the day arrived at it's end, Issei, looking a bit displeased, was making his way back to the apartament. _'What the hell man, another day and nothing on our person of interest.'_

 **[No need to stress about yet, or after just two days you can't handle this school anymore?]** Rebellion teased his owner.

' _It's not like you're any better,'_ Rebellion was about to defende himself but Issei cut him _'all day long, whenever the teacher said something, you were grumbling like an old guy.'_

While the two continued their bickering, a black-haired girl walked towards the boy.

"E-excuse me.."she said stuttering.

"Yes?"Issei replied with a smile.

Looking at his smile, the girl blushed a bit. "My name is Amano Yuuma, I've watched you walking around town a few times but only now I've managed to have courage to talk to you."

' _Right, I barely arrived in town and much less walked trough town, but okay, I'll bite.'_ Issei pondered.

"I see." he answered still smiling.

"A-are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

"No I'm not."

"That's great!"Her face lit up. "So… would you like to go out someday?"

' _Well, would you look at that? Who would have guessed that just by_ _moving to a new place my luck would take a turn for the best.'_

 **[Partner, keep in mind that she is a fallen angel, as much as I would like to be happy for you, there's a higher chance that she approached you with ulterior motives.]**

' _I know, I know. Unfortunately I doubt that my luck would be this good as well. But playing her game might be good, since we could find out the motives of her group and maybe even about our guy.'_

 **[Indeed, that may be the best course of action to take.]**

While pondering what to do, time pass on and the girl started to fidget as she waited. He soon realized the awkward silence and spoke up.

"Sure, that would be nice."

Yuuma's face smiled brightly. "Really? That's great, here's my contact number, give a call later!" After writing her number and handing the small paper to Issei she gave him a quick bow and ran off. Issei stood still for a moment as he watch the back of Yuuma at the distance.

 **[The little devil stopped following you for now.]**

' _She most likely went back to tell the others that a fallen approached me.'_

Koneko went back to the OCR clubhouse and told what she had seen. As the three others devils listened to her, Rias made a thoughtful expression. Akeno turned towards her [King] and spoke

"Buchou, what we're going to do now?"

The crimson-haired kept silent for a moment before giving a heavy sigh

"I don't want to cause tension between us and the fallens because of the risk of causing a new or the deterioration of our already unstable relation.."

"So you will let him be killed and then you reincarnate him as a devil?" Akeno asked, a bit of anger can be perceived in her tone.

"We have to see which day they are going to meet up so that I can send my familiar disguised and hand him a flyer so that he can summon me. I'm sorry Akeno this is the only and safest way to deal with the situation."Rias declared feeling honestly sorry about the current situation. Seeing that her [King] wouldn´t change her mind, Akeno, Koneko and Kiba nodded.

As the week went by, Issei ended up calling Yuuma and marked a date on he waited the fallen girl arrive at the marked place, a woman approached him while she was handing out flyers

"Please take one" She said as she handed out one to him.

He took the flyer and glanced at its content. _'So that's how the devils decide to react huh?'_

He looked at the crest on the paper _'Which clan is this?'_

 **[The Gremory clan I believe]**

' _So its his family..'_ He began to dwell in the past and didn't notice the black-haired arrived.

"Sorry! Were you waiting long?"The girl exclaimed with an apologetic face.

"Oh, don't worry about it, shall we go?"

"Okay, ah if you don't mind, could we come back here sunset?"

 **[I bet that she is going to try to kill you.]** Rebellion suddenly spoke up

' _There's not even a point in making a bet on that.'_ Issei was sure that this was going to be her intention. He nodded to her "No problem."

After walking around town, visiting stores and eating something, the pair were passing by a fountain and it was nearly sunset. Yuuma turned to Issei smiling

"I really enjoyed our time together Ise-kun" she said while slowy walking towards him.

"I'm glad to hear it, it was pretty fun."

"Do you mind if I ask you something special?"

 **[Here it comes..]**

"Go ahead."

"Will you die for me?"she said with a grin on her face. A pair of black wings sprouted from her back and her body and cloathing changed. She looked at Issei face that showed no reaction at all at what she said or when she transformed, then her eyes widened a bit as she saw a smile appearing on Issei.

"Sorry, altough I enjoyed the day, I'm afraid you're asking too much on a first date. That's just too much commitement fo me."

The fallen angel was a bit taken aback at the boys choice of words but quickly recovered. "It's a shame that you don't have much of a choice kid!"

She created a light spear and threw it at Issei. As the spear approached the boy and she saw him making no motion to try to dodge, she smirked at the thought of accomplishing her task. But much to her surprise, when the spear was close to reach its target, with one of his hands, Issei simply threw the spear aside, almost as if slapping it. His seemed to be a bit burned, but as she focus on his face the again his hand, it was already in its normal state.

"How did you do that?!"

Issei looked at her with a surprise look " Well its as simple as it seems, just hit with your hand you know?"Irritaded by this development, the fallen created two more spears and threw both at the kid, only to have the same result.

"C'moon, by now you must have realize that you're not gonna kill me right? Unless you got something else in your sleeve huh?"He teased while raising his eyebrows

Gritting her teeth, she spread her wings and prepared to fly. "Damn brat! Don´t look down on me, I'l be back for you when I call…!"

She stopped talking the moment that she blinked, because as soon as she opened her eyes the boy was in front of her while putting a hand on her shoulder with strenght enough to feel like she was stuck.

"Calm down, there's no need to hurry I still have some questions to make to you."

"WHAT?! Let go of me I don't have to..!"

She stopped her protest as soon as Issei let some of his aura leak, just for a few seconds, she was completely overwhelmed, and that was enough to make girl stop talking and start trembling. _'What the hell is this?! How can this kid have so much power!'_

"I insist you stay just for a bit longer okay? I am only going to make a few questions okay?" The girl could only nod.

"Great! Now, why did your group came to this town?"

After remain silent for a few seconds, trying to recompose herself "To observe any humans that hold Sacred Gears within them."

 **[I told you that my presence could cause such conclusion.]** Rebellion remarked

Issei nodded mentally " If your mission was to observer why did try to kill me? Who gave you the order?"

"I-it was Azazel-sama! He said that the priority of the mission changed!"

"That's a bunch of crap, lady, even if I haven't seen him in a long time we both know that he's crazy about Sacred Gears, he wouldn't give such order so, tell me now who gave it."

While Raynere eyes widened at his remark, she looked at the Issei's serious expression and wondered who was that boy to say such a thing as haven't seen her leader for a long time.

"It was Kokabiel-sama, he said that Azazel-sama had changed the priority!"

' _Greaat, it had to be this guy.'_

 **[He doesn't have the title of Warmonger for being know to love peace.]**

"Last question, did you came to this town only to observe me?"

Raynere pondered for a bit before answering "No we came to observe you and another one that had a peculiar presence..."

' _Ooh, we may be onto something.'_ Issei thought before hearing the rest of Raynere answer

"…but when we arrived she was already under the protection of the devils."

' _Shit! Looks like I have no way out but to involve myself with them.'_

Issei sighed, before grabing the flyer on his pocket and handing to Raynere, who stared confused.

"Last thing! I promisse! You know how this works right, so i want you to hold that while you wish to not die, even if you are a fallen I think it will work" After that he close his eyes.

Confused, she was about to ask him what he meant but her answer came before. The boy opened his eyes and that same aura started to show, this time added with killing intent turned completely to her. As the earth around seemed to shake, she felt shivers down her body before all that she saw was black.

A few moments later Rias and her peerage were teleported to the park, her peerage came together because as she felt the wish of the flyer not only was enough to call her but almost another devil along as well. The scene before their eyes surprise all of them; Issei sat on the fountain and on his side, lay down on the ground was a fallen angel. What added more to that surprise was that both seemed unharmed, there wasn't even blood around.

"Ah, Gremory-senpai, sorry for calling in such a short notice" the boy said smiling "I'm Hyoudou Issei, nice to meet you."

"H-hello Hyoudou-kun," Rias began still a bit suprised " What happened here?"

"Not much aside that both the fallen plan and yours failed."

"Excuse me?" Rias said as the surprise of the four devils grew again.

"The fallen angel would attempt to kill me, I would ending up summoning you, then you reincarnate me as a devil. Wasn't that your ideia?" Not one of the four knew what to say. Issei gave a heavy sigh as he made a more serious expression

"Such greed, Gremory-senpai, thats not healthy you know?"Unfortunatily, given his past of how he used to deal with the devils, the Devil Hunter let a bit of killing intent slip, making the devils wary. _'Aw crap, I screwed up.'_ Before he was able to say something to lighten the mood

"Don't you dare try something on them!"The blonde-haired boy said as he created a sword and ran towards Issei. He swung his sword from the right to the left, but the motion never finished, because his sword stopped the moment Issei's hand grabbed the blade. With his other free, Issei hit the swordsman in the chest with his palm, sending him flying back to his original place.

"Calm down, I have no intention of fighting, that was just a slip on my part." But they wouldn't listen anymore after what happen.

 **[So much for friendly ties with the devils…]**

' _Shut it! I can still try to salvage it.'_

 **[Right, but first good luck on calming them down.]** Issei smirked as na idea occurred to him.

 **[Yeaah… this idea will either help or completely blow your chances.]**

' _A gamble it is then. I have faith in my luck.'_

 **[Oh boy…]**

As Kiba, Akeno and Koneko prepared to attack, Issei simply stood still and put his hands on his pockets. Seeing this, Kiba narrowed his eyes and ran again at the boy, this time thrusting his sword. He was sure that he had hit his adversary, given that he heard the sound and felt it through his grip on the sword. He then released it, seeing that he couldn't take it out. Issei still stood there, without moving, now with a sword in his chest. Akeno then released her thunder magic on Issei, causing a small scale explosion. Without even waiting to see the aftermath, Koneko them speed up to the place were Issei was and hit him in his face with all her might, jumping back afterwards. The Gremory group then awaited to see how these barrage affected the boy, as he still was standing up but now with closed eyes. After about two minutes without movements, Issei open one of his eyes

"Are you guys better now? More clear headed perhaps? Or is there still any need to put something out of your system?" Issei asked while making a curious expression to the group.

The four of them stopped breathing for a moment and began to sweat out of anxiety and fearfulness of what would happen next and how they would resolve this situation. _'We might have bitten more then we could chew.'_ Yuuto Kiba thought. The amazement of the four grew once more as they saw Issei pull the sword out with ease and throw it aside. He began patting himself to take the dust of his clothes, but what made the group widen their eyes was that the considerable big gap that the sword left close in matter of seconds. As if all those attacks amounted to nothing.

"W-who are you?" Rias asked, not being capable to withstand the mood

"Hum? Oh so we are done with the violence, nice. I already presented myself senpai. I'm your newest kohai." Adding a smile that in another situation would cause her to blush a bit. " As I said before, I only wish to have a talk with you, I have no intetion of causing harm." He finished as he sat once more on the fountain close to the fallen angel. Rias had already forgotten that she was there unconscious.

"What about the fallen?"She asked

"Don't worry I will take care of her as soon as she wakes up."

"You're not going to kill her?" Yuuto asked

"I don't see any reason to do so."

"But it cou.." He began to speak but stopped as he saw Rias putting a hand on his shoulder "It's alright, if after the attack of you three it didn't even faze him, the fallen angel is no threath, and if she end up dead we might be held responsable."Yuuto then noded.

Rias then turned once more to Issei. "If you really wish to simply talk with us then there should be no more problems among us."

Issei then gave a full smile " That great! I'm glad to hear."

"But would you mind if we talk at another time?" Rias added

"No, not at all."

"Wonderfull," Rias now was the one smiling " would it be okay with you on the next school day, after class of course?"

"Sure thing."

"Very well, after class I will send someone to fetch you, until then Hyoudou-kun."

"Feel free to call me by my first name"

"Good night then Issei-kun" The four devils gave a small bow before disappearing on a magic teleport.

 **[You do know that she will use the time until this meeting to gather information on you right?]**

' _Of course. But even then I find it hard that she will discover who I am.'_

 **[Kukuku quite the situation you were just because of one slip Dante.]**

The Devil Hunter sighed just from remembering his mistake, he took a look at the fallen, picked her up and went home.

Raynere woke up dizzy, as she stood up she noticed that she was on a unknow bed, in a unknow room of a unknow house.

"Morning."

She jumped a little in suprise as she turned to see Issei, her target for elimination. As soon as she saw his face she remembered how she came to black out and jump in the farther corner of the room. Despite glaring at the boy, on the inside she was barely holding it together. Issei calmly raised both hands and sat on the bed.

"You said you would let me go!" She almost screamed.

"Calm down, I'm not gonna kill you or anything, I just brought you along because you were unconscious."

She narrowed her eyes "Really?"

Issei gave a small smirk " Boys scouts honor."

"Why would you let me live? I tryed to kill you."

"You're not the first to try and you were deceive to do so. Besides, I'm too old to go picking up grudges so easily." Raynere observed the boy for a moment, trying to see if there was any indication that he was lying but there was none.

"Who pass to you Kokabiel's order?"

"Eh?" His sudden question startled her, after recovering from the suprise se asked back"What makes you think that he didn't pass to me directly?"

"Because,"he answered with a thoughfull expression " No offence, you're still not so strong to be at such position in the food chain…"

At this statement Raynere frowned

"..and your expression when I mention the difference of atitude from Azazel and Kokabiel was of surprise, so who pass it on?"

"...It was Dohnaseek."

"Right, so before you go, a piece of advice."Raynere looked suprise at Issei

"Chances are this Dohnaseek guy is still retaining information from you, so be careful."She looked at him confused so he added "Although while you tryed to kill me you seemed crazy,for I believe that you are not a bad person as it seemed in the that moment." He finished with another smile

Raynere genuinely blush "…thanks." As she left she turned once and said "And by the way, my real name is Raynere." Issei nodded and added "If anything bad happens give a call, as long as it doesn't antagonize with the devils."

She nodded and then left with a small smile. Issei resolved to simply relax until Monday.

Issei was on the hallway going to his classroom while anticipating the meeting later on.

 **[You're going to question the Gremory girl to see if she talks about who is the newest devil in town?]** Rebellion asked

' _Yeah since Raynere said that the person joined the the devils thats our clue and..!'_ Issei stopped as he felt the presence he's been searching for.

 **[Partner! This is it! It is your chance to find her!]**

Issei began looking around to pinpoint it's location but he stopped as he heard a girl "Eva-chan~! You're finally back!"

' _Eva?'_ Only to then have his suprise heightened

"Ah haha I'm sorry, I wasn't felling very good last week" Dante's eyes widened as much as possible, the reason beign _'That voice…is so similar..'_

He quickly looked towards the direction of the voice, ignoring Rebellion trying to calm him, and what he saw almost made him pale. Two things were made certain in this moment: first, this girl was the one that possed the presence he was looking for and second, aside from her white hair, she looked and spoke with extreme similarity to

"…mother?.."

 **Author's note:** **what's up guys? Back for another chapter, quite bigger than the first, I only hope that it is as enjoyable as the first. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who took their time to take a look at this story and also give thanks to those that reviewed or fav/follo. Sorry if the action bits aren't the best, I'll try to improve it. See you guys next time.**


	3. Life 1-3

Issei continued to stare the girl named Eva as she walked through the hallway with her friends. While he watched her, in his mind various questions started to appear alongside very old and painful memories.

 **[Partner! Get a hold of yourself!]** Rebellion screamed in his mind

" Hyoudou? Are you okay?" Someone asked, making Issei finally snap out of his trance. He turned around to see the owner of the voice and saw Kiryuu Aika, a girl that was on the same class as Issei. During the first week, she would sometimes approach Issei to talk and although she was perverted to a level similar to the Pervert Duo, she was a fun person to hang out with.

"Are you not feeling well?" She asked once more given that Issei remained in silence. Issei closed his eyes for a few seconds to calm himself, and spoke after opening them.

"Yeah I'm good, it's just that I didn't catch much sleep last night" He stated as he began to walk "I'm going to wash my face to see if it helps a bit." He didn't waited for Kiryuu's answer.

As the water splashed on his face, Issei kept seeing flashes of that fateful day in his past. He was about eight years old at the time, he lived with his twin brother, Vergil, and his mother, Eva. His father had already passed away, both kids not knowing much about his past, since both parents had decided beforehand that it would be best to wait until they were older.

His father, The Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, had settled down on the human world after having sealed Mundus and his army in the Underworld by closing its main gate, since the ruler of the Underworld aimed to invade the human world and also afraid of his imense power and of losing his sense of justice, Sparda sealed himself as well, only leaving his prison when he felt that he was close to dying. When he left, he ended falling in love with a human, Eva, which meaning that his two sons were a hybrid of human and demon.

The memory that was hauting Dante at the moment was that of the day of his and Vergil's birthday, in which Eva gave to her sons each a part of the Perfect Amulet. The day was going smoothly, as both kids played with each other and their mother smiled while watching them, but unfortunately, this peaceful view only last for a bit longer. Mundus after planning his revenge against his former general sent demons after his family. When the attack occurred, Eva was able to hide Dante underneath two stones and told him to never come out, no matter what. She wasn't able to find Vergil, only hoping that he was able to escape. Eva was them murdered by the demons. This event shaped the paths that Dante and Vergil would follow.

 **[Partner do you want to leave the meeting to another day? What just happened was something that was completely outside our expectations]** Issei kept staring his reflection on the mirror before speaking his mind

' _No I'll go to the meeting today. It's just that…how can that girl be so similar to mother..'_

 **[I know. I was shocked too, but without a doubt the impact on you was bigger, but remember Partner, you're not alone. Me and those two pests have your back.]** Rebellion stated.

' _I know. I appreciate your concern.'_

 **[Anytime.]**

' _Heh, now I'm just more hyped to understand the sitiuation'_ Rebellion chuckled, happy to see that his owner was capable of recover his mood.

The day went by as any other would, in other words, uneventful. When class ended, Issei remained in his chair looking through the window, waiting for the person that Rias Gremory said would come to take him to the meeting. He heard the sounds of footsteps nearing him and turn to see the one considered The Prince of Kuoh, the blond-haired boy Yuuto Kiba.

"Hello there, Hyoudou-kun. Buchou sent me to fetch you."He greeted with a small smile.

"Sure thing. Oh and there's no need to be so formal with me."

"Okay then, feel free to do the same."

Kiba then took Issei to the ORC clubhouse. As they reached the old schoolhouse and entered the building, Issei kept darting his eyes all over the place, examinating the place.

' _Victorian style isn't it?'_

 **[I believe so. Quite the fancy building.]**

' _Owning the place has it's perks.'_

 **[True.]**

Kiba stopped in front of the door that was in the end of the corridor, gave it a quick knock and waited. After a few seconds both boys heard a feminine voice telling them to come in.

"Buchou, I have brought him." The blond-haired said

Issei entered the room and saw the remaning devils inside the room. Rias sat behind a desk, Akeno stood still by her [King] side, Koneko and Eva sat in front of each other, both on couches. Rias stopped looking at the papers on her desk and set her eyes on the two boys that entered the room. She gave them a smile.

"Welcome back Yuuto." Them turned to the white-haired boy. "Issei-kun, welcome to the Occult Research Club, please take a seat wherever you like."

"Thank you."He said as he took a seat next to Koneko.

"So before we start, let's reintroduce ourselves." All five stood up next to each other

"I'm Rias Gremory, a third-year student and I am the [King] of this peerage." She said still wearing her smile

"I'm Himejima Akeno, a third-year as well.I am the [Queen] and sorry about the thunder the other day ufufu." Said while laughing

' _Yeah, she doesn't seems to feel bad about it though.'_ Issei thought and sweatdropped.

"I'm Kiba Yuuto, a second-year just like you. I am a [Knight] and aa.. sorry about that whole stabbing thing haha."Yuuto said with an awkward while rubbing the back of his head. After hearing the last sentence the last devil in line, Eva, widened her eyes and gave a quick glance to Yuuto but didn't said anything. _'It seems she didn't heard about what happened between us.'_

"I'm Toujou Koneko, first-year and I am a [Rook]."

 _'Didn't even mentioned her punch..'_ And at last the person of interest _._

"Nice to meet you Issei-kun"she started while smiling " My name is Eva, a second year just like you and Kiba-kun and I am a [Pawn]. I also am the newest one in the peerage."

While she was presenting herself, Issei observed her, and was still amazed at the similarity she has with her mother. Eva was a girl of average height, not endowed like Rias or Akeno but not too far behind either. While his mother was blonde, this Eva had long white hair. Issei narrowed his eyes a bit for about two seconds when he saw that not only she used a blazer, but she was also wearing a glove on her right hand.

' _Doesn't have a surname huh…"_

"Nice to meet you as well Eva-san." After everyone choose a place to sit again and Akeno served tea to everyone the meeting began.

"Once more, I apologize for what happened that night." Rias began

"Don't worry, no harm no foul."

" Still, it is kind hard to believe that after all that you were still standing." Kiba added

"Well" Issei said as he drank a bit of tea "Believe me I've taken quite the few beatings. That one wasn't so bad haha. " After that statement, everyone sweatdropped at the memory of Issei's almost absurd healing factor. Everyone except for Eva, who was giving a look of both confusion and curiosity.

"Anoo..what are you guys talking about?" Everyone looked at her

"Oh!" Rias said with a surprised expression " I'm sorry Eva, I forgot that you didn't go with us that night. To sum it up, Kiba, Akeno and Koneko attack Issei who took everything and simply brushed it off afterwards."

Eva turned her gaze to Issei with a amazed expression. After noticing her gaze he gave her a small smile

"Whoa.."She started still bewildered "What are you?"

Issei chuckled at her question. _'I could ask you the same thing you know.'_

"So" Rias restarted "Let me ask you; what brings you to my town?"

"Just passing by. I've been traveling for a few years and decided to visit this town, since I knew that it was under devil control. I assumed it would be safe." Issei told a half truth.

"So you don't have any il intentions towards this town or us devils?" The red-haired asked while narrowing her eyes

"Nope. Otherwise I would have attacked you guys last Saturday."

"He has a point Buchou." Akeno said and her [King] nodded, having thought the same thing.

"As Eva asked and forgive me if it sounds rude, what are you?"

Issei hesitated before answering, although no one present noticed. "I'm half a devil, half human." He lied.

"Oh" Rias and the others were suprised " And who would be your parent from our side?"

While reaching for his cup, Issei said " That's a secret." At this response Rias frowned.

"I'm sorry but given what you displayed, which is not common, there's a good chance that not only your parent is very powerful but could be an enemy of the Underworld."

' _Oh, you have no idea how right you are.'_ Issei thought as he drank his tea, he could hear Rebellion laughing at his statement. He then turned to Rias

"Look, I understand your concern" Rias opened her mouth to say something but was stopped when Issei raised his hand " But don't you think that you are being a bit pushy right after your scheme and the failed attempt of killing me?" Issei said with a straight face. The five devils flinched when he said it so bluntly.

" I don´t intend to hold against you these two situations but all that I'm going to ask is that you drop this matter, at least for now and give me a vote of confidence, I think it is a small price to ask right?After all, Saturday night could have ended veery diferently but that wasn't the case right?"

This standoff caused absolute silence in the was pondering the risks of pressing the boy further or letting it go. She heard Akeno almost whispering to her

"Rias, you should accept it. We both know that even with you and Eva attacking him this time our chances of winning are small." Rias stared the white-haired boy as he remained with the same expression, waiting for her answer. She let out a heavy sigh

"Very well. I will trust in you for the moment. I officially welcome you to our school and town."

Issei expression quickly changed to a smile " Awesome!"

" One last thing, even with your unknow family tree you are without a doubt strong so, would you like to join my peerage? With what I've seen you could be a good [Rook], although I would probably need extra pieces for you."

Issei smile changed to a small one " Sorry, I have no doubt that your peerage is one of the best to join but I'm not really fond of the idea of being a servant."

"I see, would you at least enter the Occult Research Club?"

"Why?"

"The club is just a front." Rias explained "We just use it as an excuse to get out of class if the need arises."

"Sure thing then."

"Great! Then we of the ORC welcome you."

" Thank you. Now if there are no more questions would you mind if I excuse myself for the night?"

"Not at all. Have a good night Ise-kun."

"You as well." Issei said as he left the room and went home.

 **[Hey Partner.]** Rebellion called Issei when he was reaching his home

' _Whats up?'_

 **[Are you sure it was** **fine to do nothing about the girl?]**

' _You saw it too right? She is hiding her right arm for some reason.'_

 **[Yes. It seems that while she is at school she doesn´t want anyone to see it.]**

' _The thing is Rebellion, at the meeting she was still covering it, even though everyone in the room was aware of the supernatural.'_

 **[…Maybe it was because you, who is a stranger to her, was there.]**

' _That could be it, but I don´t think so. She wasn´t even aware of what happened Saturday, so I think the chances that she knew I was going today to the ORC are low.'_

 **[That's a valid point. But to think that even among her comrades she would be uncomfortable..]**

' _Maybe even the Gremory kid doesn't know whats under there.'_

 **[…So…how an outsider like yourself plans on finding it out?]** Issei flinched at Rebellions question

' _O-one step at a time Rebellion. One step at a time.'_

 **[Great plan.]**

' _I'm open to suggestions you know'_

 **[…]**

 _'Yeah, that's what I thought.'_

The following week went by fairly quickly, but not uneventful for Issei. At the end of each day he would visit the ORC and at each visit he would learn more on how devil did their bussiness nowadays. Rias explained to him that instead of going after souls of humans, devils now made simple exchanges with humans. They were usually summoned by humans who were greedy, and their job was to attend to the clients wish, as long as it was possible.

Close to the end of the week, Issei decided to return home a bit earlier,to think about what he should do regarding Eva. He was walking deep in thought, passing through a residencial neighborhood. As he was passing by, Rebbelion asked his owner.

 **[Partner, there's something wrong here.]**

' _Huh?'_ It was the only thing Issei thought before snapping out of his trance.

 **[Focus Dante, didn't you notice that something isn't right?]**

Issei focused on his surrondings. After a brief moment, he was able to barely noticed the scent of.. blood?! Not only that but there was a lingering feeling of dread. Without waiting for a possible bad situation become worse, Issei rushed to the house in front of him. As he entered the house, a loud noise of something hitting the floor could be heard from the room in the end of the ran towards the door and he listened to someone laughing.

"How is it Devil-chan!? The special bullet made for the Exorcists, the bullet of light! And it doesn't make any sound. Since its bullet of light. This situation turns both of us on, doesn't it?"

When he entered the room, Issei saw two people. Well, actually there were three, but the third was a corpse attached to the wall with screws, making the shape of a cross upside down. There were big and thick screws screwed into the palm of each hand, into the feet, and at the middle of its torso. The first one alive was a boy that appeared to be a foreigner with white hair, with crude facial features and a disturbing smile. By his clothes it was easy to understand that he was na exorcist but by the looks of the situation he was probably a stray. The second one that was on the ground was, to his surprise, it was Eva. She was pressing her leg with both hands and it was possible to see blood, the priest most likely shot her.

"What's this? Another shitty Devil that came to the rescue? Well it doesn´t matter, I'll take care of you as well." The exorcist said as his smile grew wider.

Issei ignored the exorcist and kneeled near Eva and put his hand on her shoulder. When he touched her she jumped a little from the surprise but when she turned to see who it was she made an relieved expression.

"Eva-san, how bad is it?" She sighed before answering

"It's not good but I'll survive. How did you know I was here?"

"Luckily I was passing by and felt that something was wrong. I'm glad I made it in time." He answered showing her a sincere smile.

"OI! Don't just ignore me! I'm gonna get sad you know! How can you be so calm in the presence of the great me?! Actually are you trying to copy my style you shitty Devil? I'l admit, you look good with the white hair but nothing beats the original haha! But as a present I'll kill you quicker then her." Issei then turned to the exorcist.

 **[Quite the talker, my ears are hurting already.]** Rebellion said irritated.

' _I'm amazed at how fast he can speak.'_ Issei took a quick glance at at the corpse and then look back at the boy in front of him.

"You're quite the monster yourself aren't you? I bet that's why you became a stray." Issei said now looking at his soon to be opponent.

"Haaaaa? What the fuck is that? A mere Devil like you is lecturing me? Hahaha. I will laugh at this. You probably could get a reward for being funny. Okay then, listen carefully you shitty Devil. Devils also use humans' greed to survive. Relying on a Devil proves that you are no longer a human. It's the end. That's why I killed him~. I make a living by killing Devils and those that are contracted to a Devil. That's my job. That's what I, the great Freed Sellzen do."

"Quite the logic you got there." Issei said unimpressed. This wasn't the first time he heard something of this nature.

"It has been my dream ever since I was little. Before I kill you let me tell you why you shitty devil: when I was was little, I used to read a book about a myth. In this myth there was a badass guy that haunted devils and demons like crazy."

' _I don´t like where this is going..'_ Issei thought as Rebellion was holding his laughter.

"What had me impressed was that this badass was actually the son of demon, and he was so absurd and killed everething in sight so he got the name The Devil Hunter! So I decided to pick up his mantle and become this generation devil hunter! What do you think? Pretty heartwarming right?"

After hearing his inspirations, Issei had frowned his face so badly to the point where it almost hurt him.

 **[WAHAHAHA! I can't believe it! After all this time there still are fanboys of you Dante Hahahah! You sure left an impression on this kid! And what is even better, he actually resembles you with his white hair WAHAHA!]**

' _SHUT IT! What the fuck man, why is it everytime weirdos like him?!'_

 **[Hey, takes one to know one.]**

' _And you know me better than anyone don't you?'_

 **[….That was kinda of weak, but I still felt it. Touche.]** As they were bickering, Freed raised his gun and pointed at Issei

"Well, enough of the past. Time to die shitty devil, as I promissed, I will give you a quick death, bye bye." He said and aimed at Issei's head.

Eva tried to warn Issei but Freed had already pressed the trigger, and a bullet of light left the gun without a sound, quickly reaching Issei. When the bullet was about to hit him, Issei simply tilted his head to the side, dodging the bullet.

"Eh?" That was the only thing that Eva and Freed could say after what happened.

"Hey man, that was rude. I wasn't paying attenttion to you." Issei said as if someone had just interrupted him.

'Eh? That was you not paying attention?'Eva was bewildered once more with the white-haired boy.

"What the fuck Devil-kun! You're ruining the present I gave you! How did you do that? Are you by any chance a Jedi? You know what, I'll call you Jedi-kun from now on. Let's try this again."

Freed tried shooting in the head again, only to have the same result. He then tried shooting in one of his shoulders, but he simply moved it out of the way. Freed began to lose pacience, but still tried to hit strategic spots on Issei, only to fail. To his horror, the boy began walking towards him while still dodging the bullets. Freed continued to shoot furiously but to no avail. After trying to shoot him in his ribs, when he pressed the trigger again, nothing came out. He looked surprised to his gun and a second later the same gun wasn't on his hand anymore. It was on Issei's hand. The boy closed his hand around the gun and it began to make cracking noises. The gun broke apart in his hand a few moments later.

"Looks like play time is over Stormtrooper." Issei said with a grin on his face

Freed jump back and grabbed something inside his jacket. It then created a blade of light, a light sword.

"Oi, you've got to be joking Jedi-kun! The Force is too strong with you! But no problem because you see, between us only I have something similar to a lightsaber so be ready." Freed then started his attack

Issei had to admit. For a human, this crazy exorcist was fast. As Freed jumped towards Issei, he tryed to slash him in the chest. Issei leaned sideways, making the blade miss by a good distance. When the exorcist was about to try another time, Issei grabbed his wrist. He then twisted Freed's arm and with his free hand, he hit his elbow, effectively breaking it. As Freed screamed in pain, Issei grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.

"Now, please, enlighten me. Who do you work for or with who do you work with?" As Freed choked

"cough! I'm sorry but..cough.. you're asking a bit much you know.." Issei could only smirk at his answer.

Eva was completely taken aback at the scene that happened before her eyes. Know she understood why Rias and the rest weren't capable to deal with Issei. As Issei was about to ask Freed again he stopped when he noticed a crest on the ground. The Gremory crest, a bit late but oh well. As the rest of the ORC stepped out from the circle, Kiba said

"Eva-san, we came to..ah, nevermind" He said when he saw Issei holding Freed. Issei turned his face towards the devils with a smile

"Hey guys, nice of you to join us." Rias looked at the corpse and then towards Freed

" A stray exorcist..are you okay Issei-kun? They can be very dangerous." Then she looked at her kohai. Not. A. Single. Scratch.

"Hum? Yeah, it was kinda tricky but I managed." The five devils sweatdropped

"Whoa, whoa..cough..what is this? Are you guys the Devil Squadron or maybe the Devil Rangers? Such comradery, I think.. cough.. I'm gonna cry." Freed said still trying to get out of Issei's grip.

"You never stop huh?" Issei said to exorcist

 **[Yeah…I don't know..maybe it's just me but it reminds me of someone I know..]** Rebellion teased

' _QUIET! Nobody asked you!'_ Issei screamed at his sword

"Please stop!" Everyone one was surprised at the sudden scream and looked to the door. In front of it stood a small girl, wearing a dark teal nun, she had green eyes and long blonde hair. Eva eyes widened when she saw the small nun

"A-Asia?" She said almost horrified. The nun turned her gaze to the girl in the ground and after a moment her expression was of surprise, she looked at Eva's bleeding leg and her eyes widened even more.

"E-Eva-san,what are you doing here? What happened to your leg?"

Eva couldn't find words to answer the nun. _'This is not gonna end well..'_

Asia then quickly turned to Issei and said "Please! Don't kill Father Freed!"

Issei was a bit suprise at her request but complied anyway "Don't worry. I didn't intended to." He then threw Freed close to Asia, surprising everyone in the room. Asia turned her attetion to Freed

"Father Freed what's going on here?" She asked the exorcist

"What do you mean Asia-tan? I'm clearly trying to kill some shitty devils" Asia had a shocked expression after hearing Freed

"—! Eva-san is a…Devil…?" Eva couldn't find the courage to face the nun.

"Yep, yep. So you see Asia-tan, she needs to die." Freed said with a pained expression because of his arm. Asia grabbed Freed's coat and said

"No, please Father Freed, don't try to kill her! Eva-san is a good person, she helped me when I arrived in this town. If those other devils are her friends then they must be good people as well." Asia plead, shocking everyone.

"…Hey, hey. Are you serious? Asia-tan, do you know what you are doing? Don't talk shit! You also learned that Devils are trash at the Church! Seriously, is there something wrong with your brain!?"

"There are good people, even among Devils!" Asia refuted

"There aren't, idiooot! The Fallen Angel told me very strongly that I can't kill you. But I'm getting a bit pissed." At that small piece of information that Freed let slip, Issei narrowed his eyes. _'So they are connected.'_

Before anyone was able to do something, Akeno turned to Rias"! Buchou, there seems to be few Fallen Angels heading to this house. It would be best if we do not fight them."

Rias stared the nun and the exorcist one last time"…Akeno, we will return to our headquarters once we retrieve Eva. Prepare for teleportation. Ise-kun, you should come with us, I can make an exception so that you may be able to use it. Even you might be at disadvantage against numerous Fallen Angels."

Issei walked towards the teleportation symbol. Eva looked at Asia.

"Buchou! We have to take her as well! She won't be safe with them."

"It's impossible. Only devils or half devils can use the magic-circle to transport." Eva expression changed to one of despair.

"Asia!" She screamed

"Eva-san, let's meet again." Asia said with a sad smile.

That was the last thing that happened before we left the house.

Back at the ORC clubhouse, while Akeno was healing Eva's leg, Rias was explaining to her the differences of an exorcist and a stray exorcist. Eva listened quiet the explanation before looking Rias in her eyes and saying

"Buchou, I need to save her!"

"It's impossible. How will you fight them? You are a Devil. And she is a servant of Fallen Angels. It's the two kinds that cannot coexist. Saving her means making the Fallen Angels your enemies. …If that happened, we would also have to fight."

Eva stared at the ground, knowing the trouble she would cause to Rias and the others if she tried helping Asia. For a brief moment, a tear appeared in the corner of her eyes, as she realized that she couldn't help her friend. And like that, the day ended.

On the next day, while it was still morning, Raynere was walking through the abandoned church, the current base of the Fallen Angels group. She was walking towards the room that Dohnaseek was staying to tell him that the nun had left the place. The advice that Issei gave her was still stuck in her head. As she was about to knock on the door, she heard two persons talking, since the door wasn't fully closed.

" So, tonight is the day that we will do the ritual?" Raynere stopped behind the door. That was Dohnaseek talking. But what ritual was he talking about?

"Yes," That voice belong to someone that Raynere didn't know "Tonight we will take that little nun Sacred Gear for ourselves, be prepared to dispose of her body later. She will not survive the ritual."

Raynere eyes widened as she heard their conversation. They intended to use and discard that little girl like she was na object. The boy was right on the mark in his advice.

"Also Lars-sama," Dohnaseek said. Lars? As in one of the followers of Kokabiel? "Were you able to get what I asked to you?" He finished.

"Ah yes." Lars said "Here, it is not close to an Excalibur, but still, this mass produced holy swords are cuts above regular ones and light swords, the best part is that even us, fallen, can use it. Fell free to use it in case the girls that are working with you don't follow your orders after tonight."

"Of course Lars-sama."

Raynere quietly backed away from the door, and went to look for her friends, Kalawarner and Mittelt, to tell them about what she heard. They haven't talked much after her failed attempt to kill Issei, but she was able to persuade them that the boy didn't possessed an Sacred Gear. After she told them what she heard, they were a bit reluctant in believing it, but the three agreed that something wasn't right with Dohnaseek, he was being too evasive of them. She was about to suggest them to try and hide the nun from them but she wasn't able to.

"Well, well. What do whe have here?" The three felt shivers on their backs and when they turned to see who was behind them, they knew that they were caught. Behind them was standing Kokabiel.

Close to the end of the evening, Issei was in his house, sitting on his couch with his legs laying on the desk in front of him, while he watched TV. Earlier Rias had called him to tell him that Eva had met Asia as she walked through town and had a pleasent evening, but their encounter ended badly because two Fallen Angels showed up and took her away. Issei decided not to intervene in the moment, since he was basically a guest in town, but if Rias won't have a change of heart, he will settle things himself. While pondering about everything, on his desk, his cellphone started to ring. He made a movement similiar to a drop axe kick with one of his feet on the desk, making his cellphone fly in the air and then he caught it when it began to fall. It was Rias again. He answered the call.

"Yes Buchou?"

"Issei-kun, I'm sorry if it is sudden but I need you to do something for me."

"Yeah sure. What can I do for you?"

"…Eva came to the clubhouse and once more asked to go and save the nun. While I did tell her no again, I intend to go to the chuch, since I've discovered that this group is acting on its on, we were going to support Eva. Because I'm certain that she is going to the church as we speak."

Issei smile, happy to know that Rias didn't intend to abandon that little girl. "Okay,so, what do you need me for?"

Rias hesitated before answering " Another important matter, personal even, appeard here in the clubhouse, one that I cannot leave and now, neither my servants that are here." Issei made an surprised expression.

"More important then your [Pawn] rushing to a Fallen Angel base?"

"…Please, I know it doesn't sounds good, but because of it we won't arrive in time to help Eva. So please, help us." Her tone now was almost weak and regretful.

"Of course. I will go to there now."

"Thank you. As soon as we can we will go as well."

Issei stood up, grabbed a red jacket that he recently bought and began to unlock his door. When he openned, he saw someone sitting and leaning on the wall near his door. To his surprise it was Raynere. He quickly approached her, she was barely conscious. She was breathing hard and had blood on her face and chest area, but most of it wasn't hers because she had a small number of injuries. He brought her in and lay her on his couch. She suddenly grabbed one of his arms and weakly said.

"H-help..you've got to help them.." And then fainted.

"Well, it looks like I've got two reasons to go now."

As he was nearing the abandoned church, in front of him was Eva.

"Yo." He called her. She quickly turned to see who it was and was suprised at the sight of Issei.

"Did you come here to stop me?" She asked while furrowing her eyebrows

"Nope. I'm your backup." She was suprised at his answer, but happy that he was here. After the last incident, she knew that he was more than reliable in a fight.

"You really do want to save her huh?" He asked her while they were walking.

"Yeah.. it just that..she suffered enough. And she doesn't deserve to." Issei looked her and could see in her expression and eyes the pain and sadness, almost as if she could relate to her. He noticed that her right arm was trembling

"Was it because of your arm?" He simply asked.

He expected her to be suprised at his question, but instead, she raised her right arm and clenched her first. Her arm know was trembling because of another emotion, that was clear in her eyes: pure rage.

"Something like that." She coldly answer. Issei decided to call it a day since they were at the doorsteps of the church. As they entered, the place the inside was a total mess.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

It came from the pillar at the other end of the sanctuary. From behind it, a boy appeared.

"Welcome to my humble abode shitty Devils." It was Freed.

 **[Hehe your fanboy came to welcome you, what an honor.]** Rebbellion teased as Issei mentally cursed him. Only now Freed looked who was in front of him.

"WHAT! Jedi-kun and Devil-chan! No,no,no, I don´t feel like fighting you now you know. To tell you the truth, I have fallen in love with you. So I will definitely kill you another time. Definitely, okay? I will take my leave for now. Oh! Asia-tan is downstairs!Now that's a present you won't refuse. Don't die until I come back for you." Freed used an smoke screen to flee.

"Okay I guess?" Eva said a bit shocked

 **[Kukuku quite the confession he gave you.]** Issei ignored his sword

The duo walked down the staircase under the altar. They reach a big door at the end of the corridor. The door opened by itself and the inside of the ritual place becomes visible.

"Welcome devils." Lars said " Such a shame that you were a bit late, the show just ended."

"Asiaa!" Eva screamed towards the girl who is attached to the cross. Asia weakly looked at Eva and gave her a small smile.

"It is futile," Lars said "Now that I extracted her Sacred Gear, she has a few minutes before dying."

In the ritual room in front of them was a large number of priests. On the other end, aside from Asia and Lars, there was another Fallen Angel, Dohnaseek and on the ground there were two fallen women chained to the wall, with bruises and cuts trough their bodys. _' They must be Raynere's friends.'_

Eva gritted her teeth as she glared at Lars " You bastard! I'll kill you!" she began to walk towards him but was stopped by Issei. She turned her glare to him.

"What are you doing?!" She pratically spitted

"Calm down. I understand your anger, but rushing in won't do you any good, besides the girl isn't dead yet." Eva seemed to calm down a bit

"Now tell me, do you have any abilities, or Sacred Gear?" She nodded and raised her left arm.

"Boosted Gear!" She said. Huh? Are you serious? She was about to charge at the enemy without even using her gear?! Was she that blind by rage?

Even the priests and Fallen Angels were suprise at the sight of the gauntlet of one of the Heavenly Dragons.

"Such potential." Lars said still amazed "It is a shame that you will have to die today. Dohnaseek, I will report to our master our sucess. Clean this mess."

"Of course Lars-sama" The man wearing a fedora said.

As Lars flew towards the door behind of us, Eva looked conflicted, not knowing if she should go after him or go after Asia. Issei gave her a light chop on the head, getting her attention.

"Go after him, after all without the Sacred Gear, she will die. I'll go fetch her. With your gear it should be fine, you can do it right?"

Eva nodded with an determined expression and she ran after Lars. Issei was now alone with the priests and Dohnaseek.

"So," Dohnaseek said with an digusted expression " You're the brat that Raynere failed to kill? How did you ended up here? Did she ran asking for your help?"

Issei turned to stare the man "Yeah, pretty much. Would you kindly let this three girls up there go?"

Dohnaseek scoffed at Issei's request "What's the matter devil brat? Are you scared?" Dohnaseek then draw his holy sword.

"I was using this sword on her before she managed to escape. But it doesn't matter. When I'm done here I'll go look for her and finish the job."

Issei slowly began to walk foward " You're quite arrogant aren't you?"

" What did you say brat?!"

"Just because Kokabiel is looking out for you, for now that is, you became a big talker."

"You have no basis to say that you bastard!"

"Oh but I do. I can sense your power and I must say, you're weaker than Raynere. Only good thing you got going for you is that half-assed holy sword."

Veins were popping in Dohnaseek forehead. " I wanna see you talk like that when I'm done with you. KILL HIM!"

The priests ran in his direction, branding light swords. Issei was still walking slowly but now looking at the ground. A grin appearead in his face

"Now" he said while raising his face " enough boasting."

Issei then started to release his aura, making everyone in the room feel overwhelmed. The priests stopped in their tracks, unable to move. For them, simple humans, the pressure was too much. It was almost as if seeing a beast before them. As Issei got closer to them, one by one the priests started to faint. The only one left standing was Dohnaseek, with a horrified face and his legs shaking. Issei grabbed one light sword on the ground and stared at Dohnaseek while oppening his arms.

"So, how is it going to be? Like a man or like a coward?" He asked tauting the fallen.

In front of fear that he never experienced, Dohnaseek lost his rationality. He screamed and ran branding his sword. His eyes focused on Issei until the moment that the boy became a blur and disappeared. He felt something pass him and also felt a sting. He then heard footsteps behind him.

"Like a man it was. I'm sorry but I'm in a hurry." The white-haired boy said

"Huh?" Dohnaseek didn't understood what happened. There wasn't any hostility, or pressure on him anymore. He turned his head to see the boy but as the back of the boy appeared in his sights, his vision began to lean sideways. First he was confused, but then as his vision began to black out he understood.

' _Ah, I see. I'm de..'_

After his head fell to the floor, his headless body did the same.

Issei released Asia, who now was barely breathing and with the light sword, cut the chains of the fallen angels, who now where awake but terrified of Issei. He showed them a sincere smile and said

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Raynere asked me to come and help you guys." He said as he lifted Asia's body.

"Just wait until this situation ends and I'll take you two to her okay?" They could only nod.

Eva was having a hard time against Lars. Although she was relatively new to fighting in general, she had a knack for it. But Lars had a lot more experience then her and not only had Asia's Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, and a holy sword, he was unexpectedly a Fallen with four wings. As she tried to catch her breath, Lars taunted her

"Hahaha is this all that host of Ddraig is capable of? Then the little nun really died in vain hahaha!"

Eva gritted her teeth barely holding her anger, as she tried to stand up, the cuts of the holy sword making her feel pain everywhere. "Shut up! Asia isn't dead it! I just have to beat you and give her gear back!" Lars only laughed

The gem on the Boosted Gear gauntlet shone green.

[BOOST!]

She leaped towards the fallen and was able to hit him in the ribs, she tried to hit another punch, but Lars dodged and tried to slash her again but she was able to duck. Lars quickly chained his attack with a kick, hitting Eva right in the stomach, making her fall to the ground once more. Lars then stabbed Eva's both legs, in her thighs. She screams in pain.

"Hahaha you really do have talent for fighting! I'll give you that. But you're only a diamond in the rough." He glance to the side and gave a smirk "And it appears you are out of time, look Sekiryutei!" he then pointed his sword to the side.

Eva turned to the side, her vision swirling because of the intense pain and fatigue that she was feeling. As she was able to focus her sight, she saw Issei carefully putting Asia to the ground.

" I must say," Lars began "I'm impressed that you are the one that came up, it seems this night might still have something fun."

"Don't get ahead of yourself crow." Issei said calmly, making Lars laugh again.

Eva ignored the two as she watched Asia stare at her with a weak smile.

"You've tried.. so hard for.. someone like me. I was happy that…I had a friend…even for a short while. If I were to be born again, will you become my friend once more…?"

"A-Asia!"

Eva looked horrified as the nun closed her eyes for the last time. Issei looked with a somber face the scene while Lars continued to laugh. Eva tried to scream but she couldn't do it. She had so much rage and regret that all that she was able to do was bit her teeth with regret and look down. Tears began to fall from her eyes. What could she do? She was at her limit, barely being capable of not blacking out. She couldn't use the Boosted Gear because her body wouldn't endure it anymore for now. She couldn't ask Issei for help because her pride wouldn't let her. She was weak. What could she do?

At this moment, Rias and the rest of her peerage arrived at the church and looked with a mix of sad and angry looks.

"Now even more devils appear!" Lars continued "Do you really need that many people looking out for you host of Ddraig? Such a shame that the Boosted Gear was bestowed to someone so weak." Eva was trembling with rage.

"Well let's end this now." Lars declared.

In a blink, Lars appeared in front of Eva, while thrusting his sword towards Eva.

"Goodbye Sekiryutei!"

He was too fast for any of Rias peerage and herself to react, Issei when he was about to intervene, he saw Eva's eyes. They showed that she didn't gave in just yet, and there was a spark in them. When the sword was about to hit, Eva raised her right arm, making it hit the back of her hand.

To everyone's surprise, the hand stopped the sword, the impact creating a small schock wave. Lars was so taken aback that he could only observe as all his strength wasn't enough to win this contest and what's more shocking, a devil stopped a holy sword with its bare hands. Eva quickly grabbed the sword by its blade, and it began to crack. It then broke.

"That's impossible!" Lars said while looking at his broken sword "How did a mere and low devil like you did this?!" He then looked towards Eva and his eyes widened at what he saw.

There wasn't one person that was not surprised or intrigued at what they saw, but the one that took first place was Issei, who seemed like it seen a ghost. The glove and a good chunk of the blazer were destroyed by the last attack, and what was in it's place could be describe in one word: demonic. Eva's arm was covered with what it looked like red-orange scales. Her palm and fingers were blue, the fingers looking similar to claws. The back of her hand was blue as well, making a line all the way to the elbow.

 **[Partner that's just..]** Rebellion started

' _Yeah, just like an Devil Arm…'_ Issei observed with an serious face.

"I won't forgive you Lars!" Eva screamed as her demonic arm began to glow, almost blinding who looked at it. After that glow, Issei noticed that her aura and signature changed, it got denser, stronger.

She closed in fast on Lars, manking him uncapable of reacting in time. She then buried her right fist in Lars face, making him fly and hit the pillar of the sanctuary, breaking it in the process.

' _Where did that strength came from? What is that arm of hers_?" Lars thought as he tried to stand up, coughing blood in the process. Her hit was the equivalent of a hit of a giant or a monster and although the exterior wasn't too damaged, the same couldn't be same for the interior. Lars struggled to stand still and when he did, he immediately jumped and used his wings, because Eva tried to hit him again.

Seeing how the tables turned, Lars decided to escape and began to fly towards the window, only to be stopped when something got a hold of him. When he tried to see what it was, it tightened its grip, making him cough more blood. The Gremory group were almost horrified when they saw an arm just like Eva's appear in thin air, only that it was larger and spectral-like. It grabbed the Fallen Angel and then threw him on the ground, making a small crater.

Eva jumped to the crater, caught Lars head with her left hand and began to punch him with the other. At each hit the crater grew in size, as Eva continued to blow off all her rage and regret in her punches. No one dared to try to stop her. No one except Issei.

"You know he's already dead right?" He said while looking down to Eva.

Eva looked angrily at him, her face filled with the fallen's blood. He continued to stare her now with his eyebrows raised, as if asking what she would do next. She looked at Lars once more and gave him one last punch. She then got out of the crater and walked towards Asia, putting her Sacred Gear in her chest. She gave a sad smille to the nun before collapsing on the ground.

The four devils rushed to her and were relieved to see that she only had passed out. Then everyone proceeded to look at Asia. It was followed by a minute of silence.

"I will turn her into my servant." Rias declared.

"Huh?!" The other four said

"Not only she possess an rare Sacred Gear, she also seems to be a very kind person and I think both Eva and Asia deserves at least this."

Issei could only smile at the Gremory heir statement " I think both of then will be very happy." He said

"I also think so." Akeno added. Kiba an Koneko nodded in agreement.

Rias then made the ritual and reincarnated Asia as a [Bishop]. As they prepared to leave the church, Issei stood still, deep in thought.

 **[ Dante.. when she began to use her right arm you noticed as well right?]** Rebellion asked

' _I did. Both her energy signature and aura..'_ He looked to the sleeping face of Eva.

' _It was almost identical to Vergil's..'_

 **Author's note:** **whats up guys? Back again with the third chapter. I apolagize for taking a bit longer but I had to deal with college stuff. Anyways thanks again for your reviews fav/follo. Feel free to give your opinion, even if it is a critic, always nice to see what you guys think. Most of the reviews I answered through PM so you give it a look to see if its there. See you guys next time.**


	4. Life 1-4

As Rias and her peerage left the abandoned church, Issei stayed behind saying that he still had something to take care of, and they decided not to pry. He went downstairs to look for the two Fallen Angel girls and the priests that were left on the ritual room. As he reached the room, he saw the two girls and waved at them. Issei them gave the address of his apartment, saying that they would find Raynere resting there and that they should go first since he was going to wait the priests to wake up to decide how he would deal with them. They shook their heads, saying that the least the two could do for now as thanks to Issei was wait with him.

When the sun began to rise, one by one the priests started to wake up. Confused with what happened.

"Morning, did you guys slept well?" The priests turned their gaze to the place where the cross that Asia was haging, and sitting with his cheek rested in his hand was Issei, at his side were Kalawarner and Mittelt. They then looked at the beheaded body of the Fallen Angel Dohnaseek and looked once more at the boy. The expression of the priests became a mixture of fear and axiety, as they started to remember what happened before they fainted.

"Now that everyone is awake, I woul-" Issei was beginning to talk but was interrupted by the screams of horror of the priests, as they started to run away from the boy. After what happened, they just wanted to be as far as possible from this kid.

The ritual room went quiet after last priest reached the stair running for his life.

"Well that was fairly easy." Issei said.

The Fallen Angels smiled nervously at the boy, being able to understand the reaction that the priests displayed at the sight of Issei.

Issei then went back to his apartment with the two. When Raynere heard the door opening, she got up from the couch, still feeling a bit of pain, but it disappeared the moment she saw Issei with her two friends. She was so happy to see that Issei had managed to save the two that she jumped at him and hugged him, telling thanks with teary eyes. Issei left the three talking in the living room and went to the kitchen to grab something for him and the girls to drink. When he returned, Kalawarner and Mittelt were telling Raynere what they saw at the ritual room, with Issei complementing their story with what happened before they woke up. Raynere was both sad at the news that Asia was sacrificed and shocked, being reminded of how powerful the boy was.

Issei then told them about the fight between Eva and Lars, but didn't talked about Eva's demonic arm, thinking it was for the best that fewer people knew about it. The three Fallen Angel were suprised that an young reincarnated devil was able to kill a four winged Fallen Angel, even more one of Kokabiel's followers.

"Now that this matter is settled, what are you girls going to do next?" Issei asked.

Raynere looked to the other, her eyes staring them as if asking for their confirmation. Kalawarner and Mittelt immediately nodded, Raynere then faced Issei.

"Before you came back with the drinks, we decided to return to the Grigori and tell Azazel-sama everything that happened, but the most important part is to know if he is aware of Kokabiel-sama's actions."

"That's probably the best thing to do." Issei nodded in agreement. "Kokabiel's movements could easily turn into a conflict among factions."

The three female fallen felt a chill running down their spines at the thought of that.

"Well, we should be going." Raynere said as she got up.

"Are you sure?" Issei asked with a concerned face. "You three just had a rough time, you can rest here until you're better if you'd like."

The three smile after hearing his offer, but Raynere shook her head.

"Although I'm happy to know you are concerned about us but the sooner we return, the sooner Azazel-sama will be aware of the current situation."

"Alright then, if you're that decided I won't say anything else." He said as he opened the door for them. "Once more, if something happens feel free to call. If possible I'll do my best to help you." He finished showing the three a smile, making them blush.

"T-thanks and once more thank you for helping us." Raynere said as the three gave Issei a small bow.

"No problem. Take care of ! Before I forget," Issei said as the three were about to leave.

"When you find Azazel," Issei put on a serious expression. "Tell him I haven't forgotten that he owes me an strawberry sundae from last time."

The three girl didn't know what to say at this request. Why did he had such a serious face for something so trivial?

"O-okay? Anything else we should tell him?" Kalawarner asked.

"Nope. He'll get the message with just that."

As they left the building, they were still suprised by Issei's message.

"What a strange boy." Kalawarner said.

"Hahaha yeah that was kind of weird, but he's a good guy right? And besides, what's with his power? It's hard to believe his just a kid." Mittelt spoke her mind.

"I doubt that he is just that." Raynere said lost in thought. The other two exchanged glances before smirking at each other.

"Are you perhaps regretting not taking up his offer?" Kalawarner asked as she looked at Raynere.

"We can still go back you know? I doubt he'll say no." Mittelt continued the teasing with a sly smile.

"W-WHAT?!" Raynere jumped as her face blushed hard. "I-it's nothing of the sort! I'm just thinking what would be the fastest way to reach the Grigori!"

"Right, right." The other two said, as they continued their way.

Back to the routine, another normal day of class was ending. Issei was walking to the ORC clubhouse. While he was passing, numerous girls would look at him and gossip, on the other hand, a lot of boys would look at him while almost spitting jealousy and anger, telling him things like go and die. Issei doesn't really care about how the boys and girls of the school think of him and today this feeling was amplified because as he walked, he was pondering about what Rias had said on the phone the she asked him for help. What matter could be so important that held her from go and help someone of her peerage?

Issei stopped his train of thought as he arrived at the club. He entered and saw Rias on her desk, taking care of some documents, Akeno at her side, Kiba and Koneko in one of the sofas and Eva and Asia on the other one. Issei noticed how happy Eva and Asia seemed as they were talking with one another.

"Oh, Issei-kun," Rias said when she noticed the boy. "Welcome back."

The boy nodded as everyone gave a quick glance at him. When Asia saw him, her eyes widened a bit of suprise. Issei turned to her and showed her a smile.

"Hello Asia-san, it's good to finally meet you properly." He said. "My name is Hyoudou Issei, I hope we can be friends. Sorry if the other day I scared you in the house."

Asia shook her head. "N-no, it's nothing. I was suprise and happy that day when you spared Father Freed when I asked you. It is nice to meet you Issei-kun."

Rias smiled while she looked at the interaction of the two.

"Issei, Asia and Eva, do you know what a familiar is?" She asked the three.

Issei nodded while Asia and Eva shooked their heads.

Rias then brought out her hand and had her palm faced upwards.

*Poof* A red bat appeared on her hand. "This is my familiar"

"This one is mine." Akeno said as a palm-sized Oni was summoned.

"..This is Shiro." Koneko said with her monotone as she hugged a white kitten.

' _Fitting'_ Issei thought.

 **[Agreed.]** Rebellion said.

"And this is mine." Kiba said while a small bird rested on his shoulder.

Rias then began to explain. "Familiar is an existence which becomes the hand and foot of us devils. I was told that they become handy for the devil jobs."

Eva and Asia nodded in urdestanding.

"Since the time you guys joined us is close to the day when the familiar master is available, I figured why not get you three one."

"Eh? Even for me Buchou? I'm not in your peerage." Issei said.

"It's fine Issei, you can still get one." Rias answered.

"If you say so." Issei agreed.

"Then let's not waste time." Rias said, standing up from her desk. "Let us all head to the Forest of Familiar."

The members of the ORC club were teleported throught the transport magic circle to an unfamiliar forest.

"What a creepy looking forest." Issei said as he looked around.

"It's not as bad as it may seem."

They turned to see a young man wearing rough clothings. He waved at the group.

"Name's Satooji from Madara Town. I'm a devil in training and my aim is to become the Familiar Master." He introduced himself

"Satooji-san, this are the ones I spoke of." Rias said as she waved her hand in the direction of Issei, Eva and Asia.

"I see, I see." Satooji said as he observed the trio. "A good looking boy and two beautys huh. Alright! Just leave it to me. So, what kind of familiar do you want? A strong one? Fast one? Or maybe poison one?" He asked.

" A cute one please." Asia spoke sheepishly

"Cute one it is then." Satooji said.

Eva had no idea which one she wanted and Issei asked.

"Satooji-san, what's the strongest familiar there is in this forest."

Satooji staggered a bit, he wasn't expecting this question. "That would be one of the Dragon King, Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat! It's said that her strenght is about the level of a Maou, while also being the only female among the Dragon King and haven't being captured yet by anyone!"

Issei placed his hand on his chin while thinking.

' _What do you think Rebellion? I mean, I'm all in for having her as a familiar, but can we do it without blowing our cover?'_

Rebellion made a difficult expression at this question.

 **[Maybe yes, maybe no. Because she is a dragon, she won't attack you only with melee. If it was just a fight of raw strength, even if she's at Maou level and you're without your demonic powers, you would probably be okay.]**

' _Ah whatever, we'll cross that brigde when we reach it.'_ Rebellion chuckled at Issei's answer. Issei turned to Satooji and said.

"Alright Satooji-san, please lead the way." Everyone aside Eva and Asia had shocked expressions at Issei's request.

"W-wait a minute Issei-kun." Rias tried to persuade the boy. "We know you're strong but even then..Tiamat is probably the strongest of the Dragon Kings!"

But that only added to the boy's enthusiasm of going after the dragon.

"Really?" Issei said with a big smile. "That's awesome!"

' _It's no good. He's dead set on doing it.'_ Was what everyone thought.

"You're really gonna try huh? Alright then, suit yourself. Follow me." Satooji said.

After walking a bit, the group reached a clearing that lead to a cave.

"That's where she lives kid." Satooji said as he started to walk back.

"Were are you going Satooji-san?" Issei asked

"Well, as much as I would like to go there with you, I still have my dream to acomplish you know haha."

"Fair enough. You guys should probably stay behind with him." The ORC group nodded.

As Issei approached the cave, he could already feel Tiamat's power. When he reached the its entrance, he knocked on the stones and said

"Hellooo, I'm looking for the Dragon King Tiamat-san." Issei noticed that a figure started to move in the shadows of the cave.

" **Who dares disturb me?"** An slightly angry feminine voice came out from the cave.

"Pizza delivery." Issei answered

 **[Bad move.]** Rebellion said

The shadow began to move again, visibly more agitated. **"If you came here just to say that then it may as well be the last thing you do!"**

"Sorry, sorry." Issei said as he raised his hands. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

Tiamat scoffed at his answer. **"What are you brat? I can sense that you're human, but there's something else there, something concealed."**

Issei pondered if he should answer with the truth for a few seconds.

"I'm half demon." He decided to say it since he was going to make her his familiar.

" **Demon huh? That's quite rare this days. So, what do you want brat?"**

"I've come to ask you to be my familiar. If possible I'd like to settle this pea-" He wasn't able to finish.

" **HAHAHA! Now that's something I haven't heard in a long time! In consideration of you being a very rare hybrid in this days I won't kill you now go away."** Tiamat laughed at him.

"Now don't be like that. I came all this way to fetch you. Now come on, here, let's go." Issei began to taunt the Dragon King by clapping his hands as if calling a dog.

That action hurt the Chaos Karma Dragon's pride.

" **You insolent brat!"** Tiamat raised one of her arms and tried to squash Issei. He dodged it by jumping back. Issei was now back at the clearing, looking back to see if the ORC and Satooji were far enough. Seeing that they were almost dots in his sight, Issei looked back to the cave.

Tiamat was stepping out of her cave, her body now visible. She had the appearence of a blue Western Dragon. She leaped foward, trying to bite Issei, who simply sidestepped. Before she could retreat her head, Issei kicked making a thrusting move, the strength and impact made Tiamat stumble and fall.

" **THAT HURTS! Didn't your family thaught you not to hit a girl?!"** She swung her tail right to left to hit the boy but was suprised when she saw the boy holding her tail in his arms. He showed her a smirk.

"That's a bit of a complicated matter besides, I'm all in for gender equality."

Issei then turned back while holding Tiamat's tail over his shoulder, he began to apply force, pushing the tail. Tiamat was shocked to see a boy lift her, a dragon, in the air and over his shoulder. She then hit the ground, creating a crater. At the distance, everyone that was watching had their mouth agape as they saw Issei swinging the Dragon King like she was a hammer.

" **You're strong, I'll give you that. Never would I imagine that a brat would match or even outmatch me in strength. But if you don't get serious, you're going to die."** Tiamat said as she stood up from the crater.

Issei smiled at the warning. "And who said I'm not serious here?"

" **I did."** Tiamat deadpanned. **"Enough playing around brat! Roaaar!"**

Tiamat released a fire breath attack, making Issei jumped to avoid. While he was in the air, Tiamat to the opportunity and punched him. As he saw her attack coming, Issei could only put his arms in front of him. When her fist reached him, she tried to lead him to make him stand in the same direction as his companions.

As Issei flyed because of her strength, he streched his legs to the ground, making his feet dug in the earth to try and stop forcefully. His action left two long lines on the ground. When he gazed at Tiamat she had charged up another breath attack. Issei was about to run but stopped when he noticed that behind him was the ORC members and Satooji. If he ran, it was almost certain that the fire attack would hit them, even if they were far away, and they aren't strong enough to survive or defend an attack of someone like Tiamat.

' _She's trying to force my hand.'_ Issei smiled at the Dragon King.

Tiamat released her attack, this time the fire ball was bigger and stronger.

Issei raised his right hand above his shoulder. A symbol in his back began to shine through his shirt.

"Let's do this!" Issei said, ignoring Rebellion shouts, he was completely absorved in the fight.

Tiamat calmly observed what would the boy do. Although she wasn't satisfied with the tactic she had to use, her curiosity to see what the boy was capable to do was bigger. Her attack was close enough to the point that from were she was standing, she couldn't see the boy anymore. As the fireball approach him and nothing happened, Tiamat was starting to have doubts. _'Did I overestimated this brat_?'

Then she felt a spike of demonic power in front of her and in a blink, her fireball disappeared, revealing the boy without a difference, if not for the sword that was resting on his shoulder.

 **[You do know that I am one of the things that marks you as the Devil Hunter right?]** Rebellion asked

Issei gave him a mental apology. _'Yeah, but you were able to find a good solution to it, by using your dormant form.'_

 **[Yes, very few people would recognize me in this form but remember that in this form it's barely half of the strength I possess and the amount of demonic power you can channel through me at once is very limited.]**

' _Duly noted.'_

Tiamat observed the sword. It was a massive claymore with a heavy double-edged blade, notched on both sides near the tip. It's pommel was a single spike and while the grip looked plain, the guard was skeletal, with a skull-design on each side of the blade, on one side it was it was a skull of a human and on the other the skull of horned demon. She was sure that it was her first time seeing it, but she couldn't help but feel that she knew this sword.

"Well played back there Tiamat-san." Issei said

The Chaos Karma Dragon smirked at the boy. **"I told you that if you didn't get serious you would die."**

"Indeed you did."

Tiamat once more jumped at him, this time using her hands as if she was going to clap, aiming to crush him. When she thought that her hands would touch it each other, her arms began to tremble. Between then was Issei using Rebellion's flat side against Tiamat´s right hand and to stop the other hand he use his feet.

"You know," Issei said " That's the second time you try to squash like a bug. Am I really that annoying?"

Tiamat didn't bother to respond, as she tried to apply more strength in her arms but to no avail, in fact, the boy began to push back her hand, her left hand. Issei continued to push with his leg, until one point were the dragon couldn't take it. Because of the sudden difference of strength, Issei's leg threw the hand back. Seizing the chance, Issei jumped over to the other side of Tiamat's right hand and hit her with his sword.

She imidiately retreated her hand, gritting her teeth because of the pain.

' _She really is strong. For you, even if in your dormant form not be able to cut her scales.'_ Issei thought impressed.

 **[Indeed. She doesn't have those titles just for show. You're only chances of cutting her are if you hit her in areas less protected, if you channel demonic power to my blade or if you use my awakened mode, otherwise it's almost as if you were hitting someone with a bat, almost.]** Issei nodded.

Tiamat threw another fireball at him but this time, Issei made two diagonal slashes, making an X, that cut the wind itself and went straight to the fireball, both attacks cancelling each other. Issei ran towards the dragon, she tried to hit him with her tail once more, he leaned sideways, dodging the tail and jumped on her, incrising his speed even further. She threw another fire attack to get him off of her but he jumped towards, swinging Rebellion, hitting Tiamat between her eyes. **(Helm Breaker)**

The dragon staggered for a bit and Issei took advantage of this moment to cut her in both arms in the places with less scales, making her bleed a little, since even there, her skin was very hard to break. She wasn't able to recover because at each attack she threw at the boy either he dodged it or cancel it with another of his, and then he proceeded to cut her.

Tiamat then started to began to flap her wings, each motion creating strong gusts of wind, causing trees to break. Issei just stood still, one hand on his waist and resting Rebellion on his shoulder, looking to see what she was going to do next. Tiamat looked at the small figure of her opponent from the sky.

" **You surprised me a lot brat! As a token of gratitude allow me to show you one of my greatest attacks."**

She began to inhale air, her belly, which didn't had the color blue as her scales, began to glow in a blue-greenish color. Issei stared at her in wonder.

 **[Partner, this breathe attack of hers is on a whole different league then the others. Dodging is not an option because the impact of this blast will most likely reach the others and the attacks that you were using won't be enough to cancel it.]** Rebellion advised Issei.

Issei began to tap Rebellion on his shoulder, pondering on what to do. His face suddenly lit up, when he decided on how to deal with the sitiuation. He changed his grip on Rebellion, making his blade point downwards. He then changed his posture to a crouching one, while he's free hand was raised as if aiming at the dragon. Lastly he lowered his other hand, making Rebellion's point upwards when it was on his back. **(Swordmaster style: Over Drive)**

While finishing to charge her attack, Tiamat looked curiosly at the boy to see what he would do.

After a few moments standing like this, Rebellion's blade began to glow in a fading red color, given the small amount of demonic power. The pressure that Issei began to put on the ground with his legs began to show as well, as the ground beneath his feet started to sank.

Tiamat noticed that the same spike of demonic power that she felt earlier happened again and then she noticed the blade of the brat's sword glowing. _'So that's what happened earlier. What's more impressive is that even in such small amount, it is very dense for a kid of his age.'_

Issei then looked up towards her. She could see by his expression that he was waiting for her to go first. _'What a gentleman.'_

" **Let's see how you fare against this! Roar of Chaos!"** She then released her attack. An enourmous blue-greenish fireball staterd descending in Issei's direction.

"Hahaha what pressure!" Issei screamed as he observed the fireball. "My turn now."

Issei moved the sword that was on his back, in his right side, straight up, above his head on his left side. Then he did the same move, only this time from left to right and to finish, made the first move again.

Issei's move sent three redish slashes towards the fireball, each one of them mistured with Issei's demonic power. When both attacks collided, it was as if a bomb had exploded, causing a massive shock wave, not enough to harm the ORC group, but enough to send trees flying once more, this time accompanied with rocks.

As Tiamat waited to see what happened bellow, because the attacks cause smoke, admist said smoke she saw a faint red color. She narrowed her eyes only to widen then a second later, as she saw the boy there charging another attack. **(Swordmaster style: Quick Drive)**

Tiamat was shocked to see to boy so high in the sky, now understanding why the ground below him began to cave in when he assumed his released his attack and the slash flew towards her. Although weaker than the other attack, it still was very dangerous.

The dragon tried to dodge by leaning sideways, but she was too late to react and because of this move, the redish slash not only hit her in the chest, causing a considerabely big cut, but it hit her wing as well, making her fall very fast with her back to the ground, far from the clearing were the fight had started. As she was falling, she felt something in her chest, a bit above the cut. She turned her gaze to see Issei standing up there, resting his sword on his shoulder. When he noticed her gaze, he wave at her with his free hand and said.

"I hope you don't mind having me as a passenger." She gritted her teeth in annoyance.

The fall itself didn't cause a lot of damage to Tiamat, although it did made a big crater. As she was about to try to stand up, she felt something touch her neck. When she looked at it, there was Issei's blade, glowing red again.

"Look, we both know that we can still keep going at it for a long time." He said with a serious face. "But how about we call it a day huh? It's not like I want to keep on trying to cut you, you know?"

Tiamat stared at the boy in silence. It was true that she could keep going at it, but she could see in his eyes that he wasn't even beginning to get tired. And even after landing a few attacks that would have heavily injured a high-class devil, he was still standing just fine. And whats more, she couldn't shake of the feeling that the boy was holding back his power greatly in this fight.

Tiamat let out a heavy sight and then her body began to glow, Issei noticing this but not feeling any hostility towards him, he decided to jump off. A few seconds later, standing in place of the dragon was a tall, buxom woman, with long pale blue hair. She even had an cold atmosphere that radiated from her beauty. The finishing blow was that she was naked.

 **[Oh dear Lord..]** Rebellion said entranced with the dragon.

She kept staring the boy but eventually broke the silence with laughter

" You really are an interesting one. I have no idea of the depth of your power. If it's you I guess becoming a familiar will bring me some fun moments." She stated as she moved closer to Issei, finally hugging him from the side, burying his arm in her bosom.

 **[O-oh..what a time to be alive.]** Rebellion muttered

"What's wrong boy? Why are you so quiet? Is it the first time you've seen a woman naked?" She asked while making a sly smile. "If you want me as your familiar then you will have to get used to it, otherwise forget it."

"That's quite alright by me." Issei said calmly.

"Come again?" Tiamat said surprised.

"Well you're definately good looking and if that's what your into I won't judge, you're the one that would be walking around town naked. And plus, I live alone so, yeah."

Tiamat couldn't believe it. This boy didn't cease to suprise her.

"Hahah! I was trying to see you act a bit like your age but you've managed to suprise me once more." Tiamat said.

"I've been alive for quite the time so.." Issei answered.

"Is that so? Then please do tell me later how you became so strong yes? More importantly, what is your name boy?" Tiamat asked

"I'm going by Hyoudou Issei for now, but since you're going to be my familiar might as well tell you my real name, Dante."

"I see, I see, your real name is Dante. It's quite the-" Tiamat stopped for a second. Demon heritage, white hair, this absurd sword and named Dante?

Tiamat's eyes widened in shock at the sudden realization, even staggering a bit.

"Y-you're the Devil Hunter?!" She asked while pointing at the boy

"Ara, you already connected the dots? Cat's out of the bag huh, yeah that would be me." Tiamat's eyes widened even more.

" You're really the Son of Sparda?!"

"The one and only, alive that is." He said with a sad smile.

Now it made perfect sense this kid's absurd strength.

"Look, I understand that there may be some questions you'd like to ask, but would mind leaving it for later?"

"Not at all, Dante-sama~." She answered, now even more interested on her master.

"Sama huh, okay then. One thing though, when together with anyone else, please adress me as Issei, since I'm trying to lay lown."

Tiamat nodded but added. "Making me your familiar is the opposite of that you know~?" Issei flinched.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's do the ritual while they aren't here yet." He turned to Tiamat.

"In the name of Dante, I order you! You shall become my familiar and respond to my contract!"

A magic circle appeared below Tiamat. She look at it and tried to remember to whom it belong to. It was the same crest that appeared on Dante's back when summoning Rebellion. It belonged to Sparda. The magic circle then losed its light, meaning that the contract had been formed. After that, Tiamat used some of her magic power to make clothes for herself.

A few minutes later, the ORC group and Satooji arrived at the place where Tiamat had turned to the group and saw that they were different from the last time he had seen then. Kiba and Satooji looked burnt black and Asia was holding what it seemed to be a mini dragon.

"Hey guys, what happened, you two?" Issei asked pointing to Kiba and Satooji.

"There was a small misunderstanding," Kiba said as he rubbed the back of his head. "That little dragon over there thought we were enemies." He said while pointing at the dragon that was with Asia.

"He's a Sprite Dragon," Satooji explained. "Since he's a male he can take a liking to females from other races, but he doesn't really get along with other males."

Issei stared at the small purple-blue dragon. The dragon stared back while narrowing his eyes. Lightning began to flash around him.

"Don't even think about it you little pervert." Issei said, now glaring at the dragon.

The little dragon shuddered and turned his face to Asia, as if looking for protection.

"Don't call him that Issei-kun!" Asia defended her familiar. Issei chuckled at her reaction.

"Anyway," Rias decided to change the topic. "What about Tiamat Issei-kun?"

"What you do you mean?" Issei asked confused. "She's right here." He said while pointing at the woman standing besides him.

"Eh?" Everyone looked at her surprised, this beauty was Tiamat? But their suprise shifted to Issei, since they were once more in awe by the power that the boy possessed. To be able to deal with the Chaos Karma Dragon and still have this much energy. He had a few scratches here and there, his clothes were dirty and a bit torned, but overall he was fine.

"Issei-kun what was that sword that you used? I would never thought that you are a swordsman." Kiba asked curiously.

"That was my inheritance." He answered. "And what about you Eva, did you find your familiar as well?"

Even though Eva was curious to ask Issei more of his past, she decided to let it go for now.

"No not yet. I don't know what type I'd like." She said a little sad.

"No worries, little lady," Satooji reassured her. "I'll find you an awesome familiar."

Tiamat was glaring at Eva but was stopped when Issei gave a chop on her head. She glared at the boy.

"I know that you have a beef with Ddraig," He said. "But please, this will probably be the only thing I ask you to obey me, don't try to harm her."

She looked at the boy expression and she could she that this was important to him. Although she hated Ddraig, her interest in Sparda's son was bigger, so she agreed to not try anything against her.

While they were walking through the forest, a bit ahead of their path appeared a dog. It was a large black dog of pure black fur with red eyes.

Only Satooji, Issei and Tiamat showed a reaction at the sight of the dog. Satooji looked like he seen a ghost, Issei was a bit suprised and Tiamat raised an eyebrow.

"What wrong guys?" Rias asked when she saw their reaction.

Satooji couldn't find words to speak.

"That's a Black Grim." Issei answered while carefuly looking at the dog.

Now Rias, Akeno and Kiba were shocked.

"W-what?!" Rias looked at the dog scared. "What is he doing here, I thought that they only that they only stayed in towns with churches to chase away grave robbers."

"That is true, but it doesn't mean that they can't roam free." Issei said

Eva and Asia looked at each other confused.

"What is the big deal with that dog?" Eva asked

"B-Black Grims are beings that have similaritys with Hell Hounds, they both can breath a subspecies of Hell Fire." Satooji explained. "But they are much more resistant to any type of damage. They can be considered omens of death or malace, whenever they go, misery strikes and if that's not enough, even a scratch from them could kill, if not treated, although it differs from person to person."

"They're also sentient," Issei added while still looking at the doog. "I'd wager that this one came here trying to escape of all the misery and death that he has seen."

Eva watched the dog walking with a saddened look. He was walking while looking to the ground, completely lost. She then began to walk towards the dog.

Rias was going to stop her, but Issei put one of his hand in front of her.

"What are you doing?" She said. "She could die-"

"Buchou." Issei cut her off. "If the dog tries to do so, I'll deal with him."

The confidence in Issei's eyes made Rias silent.

Eva was almost in front of the dog when he raised his face at her, his red eyes glaring at her. She removed the glove on her right hand and put it on her pocket. At each step that she took, the dog entered a defensive stance. After another step, the dog jumped at her.

*Bite* When the dog opened his eyes, in his mouth was the girl's right arm that she raised when he attacked. The dog eyes widened in surprise when felt the girl pating his head with her other hand.

"It's alright." She said to him softly. "I won't hurt you."

"And I think you don't really want to hurt anyone right?" The dog averted his eyes from her.

"You must have seen a lot haven't you? You are trying to find a place where you end up not hurting anyone and no one tries to hurt you isn't it?" He narrowed his eyes

"Don't be like that," Eva continued. "I don't believe that any misfortune that you've seen is your fault." This time, the dog closed his eyes.

" I've been trough rough times as well," She said. "Mostly because of this arm." She moved the finger's of her right arm, getting the attention of the Black Grim. His eyes widened at the sight of her hand, since the rest was covered by the blazer, still, he had never seen anything like it. He looked at the girl's face and saw her showing him a soft smile.

"Even though I don't know what exactly you've been through, I know how you're feeling. I still am not completely sure if what I have now will be able to erased this past, but I think I am on the right track." She while giving a quick glance at the group behind her.

The Grim could see in their eyes the worry for the girl in front of him. He turned once more to the girl, who was still smiling at him.

"So, would you like a chance like that as well?" She asked him.

His eyes grew wide again. He released her arm from his mouth and sat in front of her with his head dropped, pondering. Should he accept, wouldn't this girl, who already has a troubled past, experience sadness again? Wouldn't he bring misery to her friends as well?

He stopped asking himself when he felt her hand on his head again.

"Don't think too hard about it, just do what you want to do." She said.

He stared at her for a minute, then barked, giving his approval. Eva then nodded and started the ritual.

When the group saw the light of the magic circle fading away, they ran towards Eva and her familiar. Rias grabbed Eva by the shoulder, showering her with question like what was she thinking, if she was hurt, etc.

The dog, not used to such commotions, hid himself behind Eva's legs.

After Asia used her Sacred Gear in Eva's arm, the group turned their attention to the dog, who flinched under so many gazes.

"Aw, he's cute ufufu." Akeno said, the girls nodding in response.

"So, do you know what name you're going to give him?" Rias asked Eva.

She stared at the dog behind her, who in return looked at her curiosly.

"What do you think of Ruth?" She asked him.

He tilted his head while pondering, then nodded and gave a bark.

As the girls began to pet and make comments about Ruth, who again was lost at how to deal with so much attetion, a bit distant from the group, Issei looked at Eva with a sad expression, having just heard the talk that Eva had with the Black Grim from Tiamat, who was able to hear it.

Tiamat observed her master's reaction when she told him what she heard, beginning to wonder what was his connection with the girl. After that, the group returned to Kuoh.

Issei went back to his apartament with Tiamat,who told him that she would alternate between staying at his place and the forest in the Underworld. After ordering some food, Issei showed Tiamat the vacant room, then he went to sleep.

On the next day, Issei slowly opened his eyes confused because Rebellion was crying.. of joy?

His confusion didn't last because he soon felt one of his arms being pressed against something soft. He turn to see Tiamat hugging him like a pillow, and adding to Rebellion's happiness, she was in her birthday suit.

' _What to do now?'_ Issei thought as he looked at the dragon's peaceful face.

 **[Go for the kill Partner.]** Rebellion quickly answered.

The boy chuckled at his sword answer, causing Tiamat to calmly open her eyes. She gave him a small smile when noticed that he was awake.

"Morning Dante-sama~." She said as she neared his face, closing in on his lips. She stopped when Issei flicked her forehead, making her back away while rubbing the place he hit her.

"What was that for boy?" She asked, trying to sound offended.

"It's too early for you try something like that." He answered, getting out of the bed.

"Because we've only made the pact yesteday? Don't let it bother you boy, I've already taken a great liking to you after our fight."

Issei let a yawn out and ignored the last half of her sentence, adressing only the first. "That as well." He raised his arm and pointed at something.

Tiamat turned to see the clock, close to 7:00am.

"Time to go to school." Tiamat pouted after hearing him. He grabbed his phone and saw there was a message from Kiba.

"Well, feel free to do as you like in the apartment," He said while getting his uniform. "If you'd like, in the evening you can go to the old clubhouse of the school, since there will only be the devils there. And I just received a message that says that the Gremory girl has something important to discuss, maybe you will find it interessting."

"I'll think about it." She answered as she stood up from the bed and walked towards Issei. She then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"At least this much I'm allowed right?" She said with a sly smile, walking past him and waving one hand. "Have a good day."

He chuckled as he looked the dragon walk out of his room.

 **[I'd say that choosing her is already paying off.]** Rebellion said his opinion.

' _Seems like it.'_

Curious to know what was so important that Rias had to say to the members of the club, as soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Issei made his way to the ORC. When He reached the clubroom, there was only Rias, sitting on her desk like usual, lost in thought as she gazed the window.

"Evening Buchou." He turned to close the door.

He raised an eyebrow when he didn't heard Rias say anything. When his sight went back to her desk, he saw that she was still staring at the window.

"Buchou?"He called her again."Is everything alright?"

Snaping out of her trance, she finally noticed Issei standing in front of her.

"Issei-kun, I'm sorry for not having noticed you. It's just that there's been a lot in my mind." She apolagized.

"Don't worry about it." He waved her off, taking a sit on the sofa."Is it related with what you want to talk about today?"

"It is." Rias said, making a displeased expression as she thought about it." Let's just wait everyone else arrive."

One by one the rest of the members arrived. Everyone was taking their sits as Akeno prepared tea. The last to arrive was Eva.

"How did Ruth dealt with his new reality Eva-san?" Issei asked her

"At home he was able to settle down pretty well. But he's still a bit shy."

A magic circle appeared in one corner of the room, everyone turned their gaze to it. No one noticed, but when the light began to shine, Rias tensed up, but immediately relaxed when the Magic circle's crest wasn't the one she was expecting. From the magic circle appeared Tiamat.

"Oh, so you decided to come after all." Issei said, honestly surprised.

"Yes, your TV stopped working so I decided to drop by." She said, sitting next to Issei." I hope that you don't mind my intrusion, Gremory heiress."

She said while Issei kept asking her to tell what happened to his TV. Rias then answered.

"No, not at all. Although I would be lying if I said that I wasn't surprised to see you here." Tiamat nodded."So, now that everyone is here let me-"

She stopped when another magic circle appeared. This one was orange, with a different crest from the Gremorys. Flames began to erupt from the symbol.

' _That definitily belongs to a high-class devil family.'_ Issei as he awaited to see who would appear.

 **[If the crest wasn't distinct enough, the flames are more than enough to know which family it is.]** Issei mentally nodded at Rebbelion's remark.

' _Phenex.'_

"It's been a while since I came to the human world." The man that emerged from the flames said.

He was wearing a red suit, without a tie and his shirt was opened till his chest. He looks around the room and smirks when he finds Rias.

' _I bet it's some melodrama between families.'_ Issei thought

 **[Nah, he gives more of a stalker vibe.]**

' _Wanna bet then?'_

 **[..Sure. I'm pretty confident on my stalker's hunch. If I win you're going to have to invite Tiamat to take a shower with you hehe.]** Rebellion proposed.

' _...'_

 **[Don't judge.]**

' _..Okay then. If I win, I will cut our link for three nights, so that if Tiamat treats me like a pillow again you won't feel it.'_ Rebellion hesitated before answering

 **[Deal.]**

Issei turned his attention back to the Phenex devil, who crossed the clubroom and stopped in front of Rias.

"My lovely Rias, I came to see you. Now then, let's go and take a look at the ceremony hall. The date of the ceremony is decided so we need to check it before then." He says while grabbing Rias arm.

"Let go of me Raiser, I've already said that I won't be marrying you!" Rias angrily says as she shakes Raiser's hand off.

Although Issei looks at the situation calmly and with a stoic expression, he's inwardly smiling to Rebellion.

 **[W-wait a minute, this ceremony might be something he, alone, is trying to force on her. D-don't jump the gun just yet!]** Rebellion said as he panicked.

While everyone in the room was focused on Rias almost shouting at Raiser, cleary displeased by the way the devil was treating their master, another magic circle appeared at the corner of the room, only being noticed by Issei and Tiamat. This time the crest was from the Gremory family.

' _Huh, maybe it's the one we know from this clan. It would be nice to know what is the relation between Rias and Sirzechs.'_ Issei thought

 **[Partner, you do remember that Sirzechs isn't the only one that we know of the Gremory's right?]** Rebellion asked slightly concerned.

' _What are you talking about?Who else did we met?'_ Issei asked his sword as he took a sip of tea from his cup, while still looking at the magic circle.

From this circle came a buxom woman with silver hair that ran all the way down to her back, featuring a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the end, while the rest was let down. She was wearing a white and blue french maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband.

When Issei saw her, he almost spitted the tea, his eye's widened with surprise.

' _Holy shit! What the hell is she doing here?!'_ Issei screamed

 **[..Dante, you completely forgot that after the war she went to serve the Gremory clan.]** Rebellion didn't even asked his owner, he was sure that he did.

' _WHAT?! When did we ever knew this?'_

 **[Don't worry. I'm sure that she must have forgotten you by now. And besides, you're looking younger now so I'd say that we're okay.]**

' _Yeah, of course. I'm sure she won't even look in my way haha.'_

 **[Right? It really has been a long time.]**

As soon as the circle disappeared, the woman opened her eyes and started scanning the room, from one end to the other. She passed her gaze by the two heirs bickering, narrowed her eyes at Tiamat, unknow to her that she was the Dragon King, passed through Issei who was desperately avoiding eye contact. She was about to continue looking the room but stopped, focusing on the boy that she just saw. She stared at him, as if searching for something. And for a moment her eyes locked on the boy's blue-colored eyes. Her eyes then widened when she realized who this boy remembered her.

Issei observed as he saw the woman's face assume an expression of both shock and surprise.

' _Shit.'_ Was the only thing that passed through his head

 **[Oh God..]** Rebellion trailed off.

The maid narrowed her eyes again while looking at the boy. Issei could see she was uncertain.

' _You're not getting even one right today.'_ Issei said criticizing his sword.

 **[H-hold on, what do you mean not even one?! We're not sure if she's really onto you and I still believe that guy is a stalker until proven otherwise.]** Rebellion tried to defend himself

"Ano.." Everyone turns towards Eva. "Buchou, who is this guy?"

Raiser seemed a bit suprised at her question.

"Oh? Rias, you haven't mentioned me to your servants? I mean, is there anyone who doesn't know me? A reincarnated Devil? Even so."

"I didn't tell them because there was no need." Rias said

"Oh my, harsh like always. Hahaha"

The maid took this chance to speak up.

"Eva-sama," She started, everyone jumped in surprise, only now noticing her

"Grayfia, when did you arrived here?" Rias asked her

"Just a few moments ago Ojou-sama." She answered, turning back to Eva

"As I was about to say, this person is Raiser Phenex-sama. He's a pure-blood High-class Devil, and the third son of the House of Phoenix." She said gesturing him. "And he is the husband of the next heiress of the House of Gremory, as was accorded between the houses."

 **[NOOOOOO!]** Rebellion screamed while crying

' _Sorry pal.'_

Rias and Raiser sat on the sofa in front of Issei, Tiamat and Koneko. Akeno offered the Phenex tea.

"The tea made by Rias's [Queen] is superb." He commented

"Thank you very much." Akeno said while smiling, but without her usual playfulness.

While sitting besides Rias, Raiser rested his hand on her shoulder, alternating between touching her hair, hands and shoulders again. Rias brushed his hand off and got up from the sofa, glaring at Raiser.

"Stop it already! I told you before! I will not marry you!" Raiser only smirked after hearing her.

"Yeah, I heard that before. But Rias, that won't do, you know? I think the situation of your household is quite serious." He said

"That's none of your concern! If I'm the next heiress for the House of Gremory, then I will choose who will become my husband! My father, brother, and everyone in the clan are rushing it! Also it was a promise that I will be free until I graduate from university of the human world!"

"That's right. You will basically be free. You can go to college and you can do whatever you like with your servants. But your Otou-sama and Sirzechs-sama are worried. They are afraid that your household will become extinct. We lost a great number of pure-blood Devils in the last war. Even if the war has ended, our rivalry with the Fallen Angels and God hasn't ended yet. It's not rare for the successors of pure-blood Devil to get killed in the worthless battle against them, which leads to the household becoming extinct. So for a pure-blood Devil that are also happens to be a High-class Devil, getting together would be the obvious solution for the forces of Devils. A pure-blood High-class Devil. Even you know that these children will be important from now on, right?"

Rias went quiet, but she continued to glare at the man. After drinking the tea, Raiser continues.

"The newly produced Devils—. The ones like your servants, the reincarnated Devils, are expanding in terms of strength but that would make us, the High-class Devils with old history background, lose our place. There are old nobles who gets close to the reincarnated Devils because they are very powerful. Well, that might be alright. The newly produced Devils are also important for our future. But we can't allow the pure-blood Devils to go extinct right? You and I were chosen in order to prevent the pure-bloods from going extinct. My house is safe because I have my older brothers. But there are only two siblings in your house. And your brother is someone who left the house. Then there would only be you, Rias, who can inherit the House of Gremory. If you don't take a husband, the House of Gremory will go extinct in your generation. Are you trying to crush the household that has been continuing for a very long time? Because of the past war, there is not even half the number of Devils who were referred as "72 pillars". This marriage has the future of the Devils on the line."

' _So it all comes down to basically the pride and traditions of devils.'_ Issei thought displeased.

"I'm not going to crush my house. And I am willing to take a husband." Rias said, making a smille appear on Raiser's face.

"Oh, to be expected from Rias! Then let's—" But Rias cutted him off

"But I won't marry you, Raiser. I will marry the one I acknowledge. Even the Devils from the old noble house have the right to choose."

Hearing that, Raiser's face frowns, his eyes becoming sharper.

"You know, Rias. I'm also a Devil who carries the name of House of Phenex behind me. I can't let that name get tarnished. I didn't even want to come to a small old building like this in the human world. Rather, I don't like the human world that much. The fire and wind of this world is filthy. For a Devil like me who rules fire and wind, I can't stand it!" Flames begin to appear around Raiser.

"I don't know why you're so against marrying me but I will take you back to the underworld, even if I have to burn all of your servants." He fills the room with hostility and killing intent against everyone except Rias and Grayfia. Before the situation escalated any further, everyone stopped when someone began to laugh and clap, it was Tiamat.

"Hahaha, it was definetily worth coming here," She said. "This little drama is way more interesting then what was on TV."

Raiser looks at the dragon, showing a smile after looking at her body.

"I didn't know that there was such a beauty near my bride." He said walking closer to her.

Although Tiamat had no interest whatsoever in him, actually finding him annoying, she decided to play ball.

"Ara, it's difficult to believe you," She said smilling."Given that I've been here the entire time and only now you noticed me."

"My apoligies, it's just that the reactions Rias do are always funny, I end up getting absorved. And what would your name be?" Raiser asked.

"Ufufu, I see." She took a quick glance at Issei, to see if Raiser's flirting had caused him to be jealous, but was disappointed to see that he was making small talk with Koneko."I'm Tiamat."

Raiser smile lost its place to an expression of shock, he even took a few steps back. Grayfia who had assumed an stoic expression was once again suprised to the point where she couldn't hide it.

"W-WHAT?! Tiamat as in the Dragon King?" Raiser asked her, who promptly nodded in confirmation.

"How did you get the Chaos Karma Dragon to serve you Rias?" Raiser demanded.

Tiamat once again began to laugh, making Raiser turn to her again.

"You think that the Gremory girl is really capable of making me her servant?" Rias frowned at this statement but didn't say anything, after all it was true.

"No, no, I'm only here because of him." Tiamat said as she poked Issei's cheek with her finger." This boy here is my master."

Grayfia once again stared at the boy, this time without uncertainty.

' _Yep. Now she has no doubt of who am I.'_ Issei thought

Raiser looked at Issei, who was still having his cheek poked, only now taking notice of the boy.

"This boy is your master?" Raiser said with an unimpressed tone. "Ha! Then you should plead loyalty to me Dragon King. He must have tricked you somehow, because I only see a weak human." Everyone looked at Issei, who was now with a serious expression, but unfazed by Raiser's mockery.

"Actually, what are you boy?"Raiser asked." You're not only human, you're actually a bit lower in my opinion, a hybrid, but of what?" Riser continued to mock.

Issei looked at Raiser still unimpressed, let out a sigh and said.

"That's none of your concern, gigolo." He said

"What?! How dare you talk to me like that you trash!" Raiser said, flames beginning to appear again.

"I mean, that's the conclusion I got. You came to talk with your bride, who cleary isn't fond of you and then you end up flirting with another woman in front of her, that's just rude you know. I thought that all high-class devils received proper education." Issei mocked Raiser, who in turn was shaking in anger.

"You bastard! I'll have you know that devil society is different from the human society!"

"Maybe. But even then I don't think that the meaning of gigolo is different. Am I wrong?"

Everyone one in the room was holding their laughter at the sight of Raiser loosing his cool, except for Tiamat who was laughing at his face.

"You low life! I'll show you what happens when someone disrespects me!"

Raiser was moving to punch Issei, who didn't even flinched at the sight, but Grayfia intervened.

"Raiser-sama, please calm down. If you were to continue, then even if I were serious, I wouldn't be able to save you from him."

Everyone one, except Tiamat, was surprised at Grayfia, who is know as the Strongest Queen, said that she wouldn't be able to stop Issei.

"Grayfia, do you know Issei-kun?" Rias asked the maid, who nodded.

Raiser stopped and looked down at Issei.

"Saved by the bell brat." Issei smiled in response.

"Whatever you say Gigolo-kun."

Veins began to pop in Raiser's forehead.

Grayfia turned to Rias and said

"Master, Sirzechs-sama, and those from the House of Phenex knew it would turn out like this. To tell you the truth this was to be the last discussion meeting. Everyone knew that it wouldn't be solved, so they decided to make a last resort."

"Last resort? What do you mean, Grayfia?" Rias asked

"Ojou-sama, if you wish to push your opinion forward, then how about you settle it by having a [Rating Game] against Raiser-sama? it's an unofficial match between pure-blood Devils, even immature Devils can participate."

"In other words Otou-sama and the others decided to have a game as a last resort if I was to decline, right? …Just how far are they intending to interfere with my life to feel satisfied!" Rias said irritated

"Then Ojou-sama, you are saying you would also decline to participate in the game?"

"No, I won't, since this is a chance. Alright then. Let's settle this with a game, Raiser." Raiser smirks at Rias challenge

"So you're accepting it. I don't mind. But I'm already a matured Devil and I have already participated in the official game. Right now I have won most of the games. Even so, you still want to play, Rias?" Rias glared at him

"I will. I will blow you away, Raiser!" Grayfia then nodded

"Understood. I, Grayfia, have confirmed both sides opinion. I will be in charge of the game between the two household."

Raiser looked at her peerage then asked Rias

"Hey, Rias. Would the ones here be your servants?"

"So what?" She demanded, her answer causing Raiser to laugh.

"Then this match will be a laugh. Only your [Queen], the Priestess of Thunder can fight on par with my adorable servants. If you had the Dragon King it would be another story. How about we have a match in 10 days? We could do it now, but that wouldn't be interesting."

Rias narrowed her eyes. "Are you giving me a handicap?"

"Are you against it? Is it humiliating? [Rating Game] isn't something simple that you can win with only your feelings. If you can't use your servant's power to the fullest, then you will lose immediately. So it's not weird for you to train with your servants for your first [Rating Game]. I have seen Devils who lost without using their power to the fullest countless of times, no matter how great their potential and power was. If it's you, you should be able to improve your servants."

Rias stayed quiet, thinking about what he said for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Great!" Raiser said."By the way, this are my cute servants." He clicked his fingers, making a magic circle appear. From this circle, 15 people came out, all girls. Raiser was about to brag but was stopped by Issei's laughter.

"What are you laughing at, low life?" Riser asked the boy

"Hahaha, I'm sorry, it's just that.. you know that this," He said pointing at Raiser's peerage. "Only further proves my point right Gigolo-kun?"

Raiser's face was red because of his anger, and this time everyone, outside of his peerage, was at least chuckling. Gritting his teeth, Raiser turned to one of the girls in his peerage.

"Mira, do it!"

The blue-haired girl nodded and jumped towards Issei, aiming her staff at his stomach. Issei raised an eyebrow at this situation, with his right hand he stopped the staff, smashing it, and with the other hand, he flicked her forehead, sending her flying back to the rest of the peerage.

"Don't think highly of yourself trash!" Riser exclaimed." Mira was the weakest in my peerage." He turned to Rias

"Next time we meet will be at the game." And with that he and his peerage disappeared in the light of the magic-circle.

After some time, Rias let out a heavy sigh.

"Issei-kun, I'm sorry but I'll have to ask you again if you'd like to join my peerage."

Issei stared at her for a brief time, seeing that even though she was putting a brave front, she was very worried about losing this game.

"I'm sorry Rias, but I doubt that you would be able to make a servant."

Rias and her peerage looked down, wondering how to overcome this hurdle. Issei smiled and said

"I may not be able to join you, but that doesn't mean that I can't help." He said, causing them to look at him.

"What do you guys think about we help you train?" They're faces instantly lit up

"Yes, please!" They said.

"Who's we? Is it you and Rebellion, Issei-sama?" Tiamat whispered

Issei turned to her finishing her tea.

"Are you serious right now?" Issei deadpanned

"What?" She asked curiously

 **Author's note:** **whats up guys? Back again with a chapter. Although I had sort it out in my head the fight with Tiamat, it ended up being bigger than expected on paper but I hope you guys enjoy it. Eva's familiar, Ruth, was taken and modified a bit from a manga called The Ancient Magus Bride, it's pretty cool. Once again, thank you for the reviews, fav/follo and feel free to leave your opinion. See you guys nex time.**


	5. Life 1-5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relate to the Devil May Cry or DXD series.**

* * *

It was night time already when Issei and Tiamat were walking back to the apartment. It was decided that for the following 10 days of training the group would go to the Gremory's mansion in the moutain region.

While walking, Issei was lost in thought, only now realizing that even thought he said that he would help Rias and her peerage, he had no idea on how to do it, because he never had to train anyone before.

They were close to the building when Issei felt something wrap around his arm. When he look down he saw Tiamat's arm intertwined with his while Tiamat had a sly smile on her face. When he was about to ask her why she suddenly did that, he felt an ominous feeling that sent shivers through his spine.

In front of the two, standing by the entrance of the building, stood Grayfia. Although her face was emotionless, it could be seen in her eyes that the sight of the two being close displeased the maid.

Issei looked at her, not really surprised that she would confront him.

"..Is it really you Dante?" She asked expectantly

In order to end her doubts, Issei summoned Rebellion in his awakened form.

Grayfia's eyes widened a bit at the sight of the sword of the Devil Hunter.

"This should be enough prove right?" Issei asked her, putting his sword away and giving her a smile.

Grayfia stared him for a moment, then started walking towards him.

' _Is she going to hit me?'_

 **[I have no idea. But you're not going to stop her even if that's the case right?]** Rebellion asked

' _You know that I don't have that right..'_ Issei trailed off

Grayfia stopped in front of him and raised her two arms. Issei was expecting to be hit but all he felt was warmth. Grayfia hugged him, hiding her face in his collarbone.

"A-after all this time I thought that you d-died.." She said weakly

Issei felt his heart tighten after hearing her.

"You know that I'm not that easy to kill." He said while patting her hair.

They stayed like that for a brief moment, Tiamat had already entered the building, as she thought that their moment deserved some privacy.

After composing herself, Grayfia stopped hugging him.

"So, what's your reason to come to this town?" She asked him

"Why do you assume that I have a reason to be here? I could have come just on a whim." Issei joked

Grayfia raised an eyebrow after his comment

"You, who have not being involved with anything related with the supernatural for such a long time, suddenly appears in devil's territory and interacts with a heiress of a high-class household? I find that hard to believe." She deadpanned.

Issei chuckled at her observation and raised his hands, admiting his defeat.

"Alright, alright. You're not wrong." He began to walk towards the building."Come on, this talk is too long to happen out here."

 _\\\_

Issei was walking back from the kitchen with drinks when he felt the change in the mood. Although the Dragon King and maid were silent, the tension between the two was almost palpable. Issei let out a sigh before walking towards the two. Grayfia was sitting in an armchair and Tiamat was sitting on one of the ends of the couch.

Issei gave them their cups before sitting on the other end of the couch.

Tiamat took the oportunity to slide through the couch, ending up glued to Issei, she turned to the maid and gave her a smug expression. Grayfia was able to maintain her stoic expression but was gritting her teeth.

Issei noticed the temperature drop in the room and the same feeling that he felt on the street. He inwardly gave a sigh before giving Tiamat's head a chop, making her lightly wince.

"Behave yourself okay?"

"You're no fun sometimes." Tiamat pouted.

Issei rolled his eyes.

"So will you now tell me what brings you to Kuoh?" Grayfia asked

"Right." Issei said, adjusting himself on the couch."I came to this town because of Rias [Pawn]."

Grayfia's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"... The reason why you came here is because of a girl that is thousand of years younger than you?" She asked, almost hissing, making Issei fidget.

"Calm down, don't jump to conclusions before I finish explaining."Issei said before Grayfia tore the apartment apart. Tiamat was holding her laughter as she watched her master, possibly one of the most powerful beings alive, having to explain himself. Issei stood up and grabbed a portrait that was on the desk nearby.

"Do you remember when I told you what happened with my mother?" Issei asked while still gazing at the picture.

Grayfia's eyes grew wide at his question. It was very rare to see him talking about his past, usually he would only avoid the subject by making a sarcastic remark.

"Yes I do remember."

"And do you remember her name?" Issei asked as he passed the portrait to the maid.

"I do, it was Ev-!" Grayfia stopped talking as she realized that both Dante's mother and Rias new [Pawn] had the same name.

"It is quite the coincidence." Grayfia admitted

Issei showed her a sad smile.

"Take a look at the picture." He asked her.

As she turned her gaze to the portrait, she almost let it fall to the floor when she saw a woman that looked exactly like the [Pawn], minus the hair.

She quickly looked up at Issei.

"What does this mean?"

Issei shrugged his shoulders.

"Beats me. I don't know yet what to make of all this." He said, sitting back on the couch.

"There's more to this?"

She waited for Issei's answer, as he was taking a sip of his beverage.

"Did you happen to notice that Eva covers her right arm?" Grayfia nodded in confirmation

"What's under her clothes is something very similar to a Devil Arm."

All that followed his statement was silence, as both women where shocked by the news.

"...Devil Arm as in the type of weapon that you wield?" The Dragon King asked after coming to terms with what she heard.

"Yep."

"But I thought that aside the ones that you are carrying, Devils Arm's are impossible to find nowadays." The maid added

"So did I. But her arm is undeniably the closest thing to a Devil Arm there is as of now." Issei said while scratching his head."And whats more, her arm gave off a signature similar to that of my brother's power."

Grayfia almost chocked with the beverage. This man really knows how to break her stoic demeanour.

"You mean The Dark Slayer, Vergil?"

"That's the only brother I remember of having." Issei joked

Tiamat chuckled at the incredulous expression of the other woman, causing Grayfia to glare at her.

"What is it that you find so funny, lizard queen?" The maid hissed, causing Tiamat to raise an eyebrown and smirk.

"You've got a big mouth, I hope you don't regret it later." Tiamat said, challenging the Strongest Queen.

Both started to flare up their aura's at each other while maintaining their glares.

 **[Kukuku nothing like a cat fight to brigthen my humor.]** Rebellion comment, still sad that he lost the bet earlier.

Issei let out a heavy sigh, then proceeded to interfere in their soon to be fight.

"Both of you calm down. If you fight, you'll end up destroying the apartement and I've spended way too much money for you two to blow it up."

The two seemed to calm down a bit.

"Grayfia-chan, do you know anything about Eva's life before meeting Rias." Issei asked

"I'm afraid not. You will have to ask one of the two."

"Shame. Oh well, more work for me then." Issei said, dropping himself on the couch.

"You really do intend on helping Ojou-sama for her Rating Game?"

"Yeah, I'll think of something. Although I don't know Rias that well yet, I don't think she deserves to spend her life with that bird."

A small smile appeared in Grayfia's face, happy to know that even after all this time he hadn't changed.

"Can I tell Sirzechs of your return? He would be quite happy to hear that you're alive and looking after his little sister."

"So that's their connection huh.." Issei said, thinking about her request.

"If you tell him what you just told me he may be able to help you. He is one of the Maous after all." Grayfia added

"Fine, but do remember to not tell anyone else." Issei answered.

"Very well then." Grayfia said, as a magic circle appeared underneath her. "I return to the Underworld to leave you two alone, for now."

Grayfia said, throwing a quick glance at Tiamat, who showed her a sly smile before hugging Issei from behind.

"Well, I should start packing for those 10 days." Issei stated after Grayfia disappearing.

While he was packing his things, Tiamat knocked on the bedrooms door.

"Do I really need to go as well Dante-sama?"She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Yes you do. I need you to help Eva, mostly with her Boosted Gear."

He notice the frown that appeared on Tiamat's face.

"Look, as I said before, I know that you have your problems with Ddraig, but Eva needs to improve her usage of the Boosted Gear in order to win the game." He paused to catch his breath.

"And it seems that after she used her right arm in the fight against that Fallen Angel, it seems that her basic specs are gradually improving because of it's demonic influence."

"Meaning that she will become more like you?" Tiamat asked

"More or less, it will come down to how much influence that arm of hers will have."

Tiamat let out a sigh.

"Fine, I'll deal with Ddraig."

"Thanks and don't worry, I won't leave you two alone all the time during these days."

"Very well then." Tiamat said as she walked towards him." But I'll want some compensation later."

She said in a sultry tone while tracing Issei's chest with her finger.

"After the game then." Issei conceded

"I'll see that you keep your word~." She added before leaving him alone.

Issei chuckled at the Dragon King's antics before resuming his packing.

* * *

"Alright, feel free to pick your rooms and unpack. We'll meet outside after finishing up stairs." Rias said after entering the Gremory mansion.

Issei went upstairs and entered the first vacant room that he found, proceding to quickly unpack. The room was simple regarding decoration but was quite spacious, at least bigger than the rooms of Issei's apartment, with another door leading to a bathroom.

As Issei was walking out of his room and closing the door, someone spoke to him.

"Ara, it seems we ended up next to each other."

He turned to see Akeno standing on the corridor, closing the door to her room.

"It seems so." Issei said

"Ufufufu, perhaps then that I could come to you later for some.. private lessons?" Akeno teased, raising a hand to her mouth with sly look.

"Akeno! If you're finished unpacking then let's go outside to join the others." Rias butted in, ending the topic that was at hand.

"Ara Buchou, there's no need for you to be like that, I'm sure if you ask Issei, he will consider to give you a private lesson as well ufufufu."

"S-stop speaking nonsense and focus on the pressing matter at hand Akeno." Rias said after turning around so that Issei wouldn't see a small dust of red on her cheeks.

Akeno giggled at her [King] reaction before following her outside.

\\\

Asia was the last one to join the group outside. While waiting for her, the group was making small talk while Issei sat on the ground, still thinking about the training regime that he would have to pass to each of them.

"Sorry for making everyone wait for me!" The former nun apologize as she reached the group.

"Don't worry about it." Issei before stading up "Now, let's begin your training."

The group nodded, stading in front of him and paying attention.

"First, Kiba and Koneko-chan, for today you two will help each other. Kiba, you're without a doubt fast and capable of dealing quite a bit of damage, but putting in simple terms, you're a glass canon. With you building resistance against Koneko-chan attacks, you should be fine against Riser's peerage, aside from Riser himself and maybe his [Queen]."

Kiba nodded after hearing his explanation.

"Koneko-chan. Regarding your strength and defense you're on point. What you will work with Kiba is your reaction time to enemies attacks. We will deal with the [Rook] weakness later."

Koneko nodded before following Kiba so that they could start training.

"Now Eva, your training will actually be decided by Tiamat. She's actually waiting for you deep in the forest." Issei said

Eva's froze in her place with a blank expression on her face.

"I'm going to have to train with that super strong dragon?" She asked

"Yeah that's right."

"There's no way I'm going to survive 10 days with her!" Eva exclaimed, waving her arms in a cartoonish manner.

Issei smirked at her reaction.

"You still have a long way to go regarding your Boosted Gear, and Tiamat is the best person to help with it. If you survive whatever she throws at you, the chances of victory against Riser will definitely increase."

"You should go Eva." Rias said, crushing whatever hopes she had of escaping the dragon lady. "Having the chance of being teached by Chaos Karma Dragon is a rare oportunity, even if for a brief period."

Having no way out, Eva almost dragged herself towards the forest surrounding the mansion, preparing herself for whats to come. It's not that she had anything against the Dragon King, actually she would be happy to be able to train under such famous figure of the supernatural world, but from time to time, when both of them were near each other, Eva could notice Tiamat staring at her, as if watching for something, causing her to be somewhat wary of the dragon.

Issei shook his head amused by Eva's reaction before turning back to the rest of the group.

"Asia," Issei called, catching the blondes attention. "Your training will consist on working your defense spells and raising your demonic power, start working on raising regular barriers with your power. If you get the hang of it, I'll teach you some alternatives for defense."

"Hai Issei-san. I'll do my best!" Asia said

Issei nodded approving her enthusiasm.

"Last but not least," Issei turned towards Rias and Akeno. "You two are the ones that I have little ideia about what you can do in a fight, so for starters, how about a little spar between you two?"

Rias and Akeno stared at each other for a moment before both started smiling.

"It has been quite a while since we last spared hasn't it? I believe the last one was my win?" Rias asked her [Queen].

"Ara, I have no recollection of such result Buchou. I was under the impression that it was my win." Akeno stated

"Then this time we'll make the result crystal clear." Rias said as she started to flare a crimson aura around her.

Akeno did the same in response, making an yellow aura appear.

\\\

Issei was sitting on a stone nearby the site where the Two Great Ladies of Kuoh were fighting. By now, the former devil hunter had noticed that both girls had a fighting style that relied on the use of magic. While Akeno excelled on the usage of thunder and demonstred some skill with the other elements, Rias used almost solely the Power of Destruction. They were also skilled enough to be able to fight while airborne for a brief period of time and able to pull up efficient barriers if they needed. Overall, both were ballanced in terms of power and defense, but still needed more if they want to beat a member of the Phenex clan.

"Alright, that's enough you two!" Issei exclaimed.

Both broke their fighting stance and relaxed, taking deep breaths of air.

"We can still keep fighting." Rias stated, with Akeno nodding in agreement. Both girls still lost in their competitiveness.

"I know. But we aren´t to see which one of you is the better fighter and end up wasting all your energy in a spar, losing a precious day of training." Issei said calmly, snapping them of their trance and causing them to look away, embarrassed for losing focus of the reason they were there.

A sympathetic smile appeared on Issei's face while looking at their reaction. "It's nice to see that you both have a rivalry of sorts. It helps you see where you stand among others and pushes you to improve yourself, so don't feel bad about it."

Both nodded with small smiles displayed on their faces.

"Now, lets talk about what I was able to observe from your spar. Lets start with you Rias." Issei said, his expression rapidly changing from the warm smile to a serious expression, causing the Gremory heiress to gulp in anticipacion and anxiety.

"As expected of a High-class devil, you have a large amount of demonic power and has a defense that is solid, at the very least," A proud smile made its way to Rias. "Your fighting revolves your Power of Destruction, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if it wasn't for the way you use it."

Her smile quickly faded, giving way to a shocked expression.

"Thats not to say that you don't have any control over it. You do have, even if it is small. When you attack, each shot you fire has too much Power of Destruction, causing it to be less focused and consequently making your attacks be less effective. Against the likes of a Stray Devil or low to mid level Fallen Angels that wouldn't be a problem, but to face Raiser or someone even stronger than him that won't cut it. If you wish to keep on fighting with that power, you'll need to train your control over it, just like your brother."

Rias gasped in suprise at the mention of her brother.

"You know Onii-sama?" After she asked, Issei rubbed the back of his head.

"More or less. But my point is, all of us here can acknowledge that Sirzechs has an absurd, if not absolute, control over the Power of Destruction, which makes him a force to be reckoned." Both girls nodded, after all, Sirzechs is considered the epitome of power in Devil society.

"Well, your training will focus primarily on enhancing your usage of this power. Since you're proficient with magic, it would be a good idea to learn a bit of elemental magic from Akeno, more especific water, since the odds of Raiser's attacks revolve on the use of flames, fire."

Rias stared at the ground, digesting all the information that was throwed at her. It hurt her pride to hear that she didn't have as much control and technique over the power that she gained through her mother as she initially thought, but at least it was clear what she needed to do in order to make way to victory in the Rating Game. Clenthing her jaw, Rias stared at Issei eyes. The boy could see her determination and resolve on her gaze. Akeno smiled as she watched her [King].

Finally, Rias left out a sigh before flashing a determined smile. "Alright then, how should I start?"

Issei pondered for a bit before answering. "First, try creating a sphere with the smallest amount of power possible. As your attacks will become more focused, so will its shape, it won't be all over the place. Start from there."

Rias nodded and then took some distance from the other two to start training. Issei then turned to Akeno, who had her usual smiling expression.

"Akeno, you have a good balance between offence and defense, this being boosted by the perks that come with your [Queen] piece. You have a very good control and versatility over your thunder magic, requiring little refining. However, given that you're enemy is of the Phenex clan, you should focus on honing your skill with ice and water magic, giving you and Rias an advantage over Raiser. Another thing you should try to train is multi-spell casting, from what I seen you have both talent and skill to achieve it in 10 days, even if only the basics."

Issei stopped so that Akeno could assimilate what he said. After a while Akeno nodded, prompting Issei to continue.

"Lastly, this is a point that concerns all of you, excluding Koneko and Kiba. This peerage is sub-par, physically. Since you two rely more on magic, it is natural that you seek to fight long range battles, but by what I've seen from Riser's peerage the other day, most members are close quarters fighters, so I'll have to pass physical exercises for you three." Issei explained to Rias, Akeno and Asia.

"Ano.. Issei-san?" Asia called.

"Yes?"

"What about Eva, won't she need those last exercises as well?"

Before Issei could answer, a explosion happened. Issei turned around to see smoke coming up from deep of the forest.

Issei turn back towards Asia, displaying a smirk.

"I think Eva's teacher has all the bases covered."

Asia was staring at the smoke, concerned for her friend, Rias just shook her head amused and Akeno giggled.

"Ara, poor Eva-chan, I hope she survives until the game ufufu." She comment, amused.

Issei turned again to look at smoke, starting to nervously sweatdrop.

' _... That blast actually scared me for a second you know. She said that she would behave but not even an hour passed by and already the forest must be full of holes. I only hope that the forest is the only one like that.'_

 **[Hardcore training... if I could, I would pray for Eva's sucess and survival.]** Rebellion added.

\\\

Deep in the forest, Eva found herself laying down in the middle of one of the craters that the Dragon Queen's last move made. In this short amount of time, Eva's clothes were a little torn already and she sported a few bruises and scratches and she had her Boosted Gear activated. For the last 5 minutes, she was enjoying the break that Tiamat gave her and boy, did she need it. When she arrived at the clearing that Tiamat was waiting, the dragon stated with a sadistic smile that she would first test her, to have a rough idea of her physical condition and such. What Eva didn't expected was that she would have to mostly run for her life. To make it worst, as Tiamat chased her, she was laughing like a mad person while screaming the name of her new found partner, Ddraig, saying something about making him regret for forgetting his promise or something..

When she basically screamed the feared dragon in her Sacred Gear to talk to Tiamat, he gave no response, scared of the dragon lady and wanting to avoid irritating her any further and causing the premature death of another one of his hosts.

As Eva stared the sky, she tried to calm down her breathing because when she ended up in the crater, she was panting and grunting.

"Well, I think that's enough of resting don't you think?" Tiamat asked, standing on the border of the crater.

Eva's eye widened of horror, she quickly raised her arms, gesturing for Tiamat to wait.

"5 more minutes please?" She asked

Tiamat smirked at the site of the desperate girl.

"Oh? Already begging? That was sooner than what I expected." When Tiamat said the last phrase, Eva noted the slight disappointement that came with it, causing Eva to flinch a bit.

Tiamat gave a sigh. "Alright, I got a picture of what you can do and already had my fun... for now." She said with a dangerous glint in her eyes, sending shivers to both Eva and Ddraig.

"Now, as I promised Issei-sama, I'll give you the training necessary to increase your proficiency with the Boosted Gear, consequently training you physically and in your usage of demonic power."

Tiamat's demeanour then changed to a cold one.

"I won't lie to you, as you are right now, this training may be to much for you. It may end up causing more issues than results." Tiamat paused, gauging Eva's reaction. To her credit, the girl expression didn't show what she was feeling, but Tiamat could hear the girl's heartbeat, and it was as fast as when she was runing from her attacks.

"But, if you end up completing it, you would be able to win fairly easy against that little bird's peerage, the only big challenge would probably be the bird himself. So, are you willing to risk what you already have in order to gain a better hand to help the Gremory girl ?"

Much to Tiamat's surprise, Eva instantly rose to her feet, with a completly opposite expression of earlier, brimming with resolve.

"Of course! If dealing with stuff similiar to earlier will prepare me to beat that bastard then don't hold back on me Tiamat-sensei!" She declared

Even Ddraig was surprised by the girl resolve. To ignore her slight fear and apprehension of the dragon lady, something that the Welsh Dragon had already noticed in the small time that her host was around Tiamat, at the face of an oportunity of getting stronger to help her friends and also have the courage of taking risks, made the dragon take an even greater liking to her host and be even more amazed of her stregth of will, even after all that she had already experienced...

Host of Ddraig or not, Tiamat had no way of not liking and approving the girl's atitude.

' _Perhaps not all of his host's are spineless as him.'_ She thought

"In respect of your resolve I shall grant what you've asked. Prepare yourself!" Tiamat said as she began to flare her power in greater quantity than the first time.

\\\

The first training day went without problems. They only stopped when it was already dark, and because Issei asked them to do so. It was great the determination that they all possessed, but overworking wouldn't do them any good.

Right after the group stopped their activities, Issei saw Tiamat coming from the woods, with an unconscious Eva on her shoulders.

"So, how did it go?" Issei asked

Tiamat shrugged her shoulders, making the sleeping Eva grunt.

"It could have been worst."

"Oh? Is that so?" He asked with a smirk, causing Tiamat to stop in her tracks and stare him.

"Is that so what?" She asked with an annoyed tone.

"Nothing, nothing. I just think that maybe you're taking a liking to her." Issei teased

"WHAT!?" Tiamat roared, causing the rest of the group to jump in surprise.

"I am not taking a liking to this child!" She exclaimed

Issei raised his hands defensively, but with his smirk intact.

"Honestly, I thought that you were going to say that she was a no good and that I was going to have to go get her wherever you left her in the forest." He continued with his teasing

Tiamat stuttered for a few seconds before collecting her thoughts.

"And why would I do that, she did nothing to warrant such treatment." She stated.

Issei smirk turned to a grin before giving his final blow.

"You could say that to the other hosts of Ddraig that you rosted over the years."

Tiamat was about to retort but stopped, clenching her jaw. If looks could kill, Issei would already be dust, it was possible to see flames in Tiamat's eyes, glaring daggers at her master. She decided to let him have this win and resume her walk towards the mansion, but silently promised to have her payback.

Issei then noticed Kiba walking towards him.

"You know, I think only you are crazy enough to say such things to a powerful being like her Issei-kun." Kiba said while chuckling

"Yeah well, you have no idea how much she tries to tease me everyday, so I guess it's only fair I do the same."

"Hahaha, I think most people are concerned about living rather than having payback in this kind of situations."

 **[The boy is right you know, you were treading in thin ice back there and Tiamat clearly holds grudges.]** Rebellion added.

"It's fine don't worry about it. I'll deal with whatever happens." Issei said while waving his hand in dismissal. "Let's get inside, I'm starving."

* * *

On the second day, Issei left Rias, Akeno and Asia with the same training regimen of yesterday. While Akeno and Asia's training would basically consist on those exercises, Rias remained on training with her Power of Destruction because outside of being her first choice of attack, she was having difficulty on controling it. She was only able to create a sphere after using an absurd amount of energy and focus, and if she lost even a little of this focus, she would fail in making a perfect sphere.

Issei was now making his to where Kiba and Koneko were training, they were already practicing like yesterday. Kiba had bruises in various places from the first day but was slowly learning to cope with the pain and still be able to move and attack like usual. Koneko too had bruises, hers were from her failed attemps at dodging Kiba's swings with his bokken.

Both were absorved in their spar to the point that they didn't noticed the whitehaired boy approching them. They only noticed him when both stopped to catch their breath.

They turned their gaze to the direction of the sounds of footsteps and saw Issei.

"Yo." Issei greeted them

"Morning Issei-kun." Kiba greeted in return while Koneko only nodded.

"Morning. By the little of your spar that I saw, I think that both of you have already made some progress right?" He asked, receveiving two nods of confirmation.

"Alright then today we'll change things a bit". "Koneko-chan," He called out "The most distinct weakness of a [Rook] is it speed correct?"

"... Yes." Was her answer.

"Very well, come here then." He asked, Koneko hesitated out of curiosity.

"Come on, I don't bite Koneko-chan~." Issei joked with a smile.

A bit embarassed by his tone, if the small pink hue in her cheeks were any indication, she walked towards Issei.

Issei kneeled in front of Koneko and gathered a small amount of demonic power in two of his fingers. "I'll explain the use of what I'm doing as soon as I'm done here okay?"

Koneko stared at both the small amount of demonic power and his eyes for a moment. Seeing no deceit in neither his tone or eyes, Koneko only nodded.

With her consent, Issei started drawing a symbol in Koneko's forehead.

"Okay, it's done." Issei declared, causing Koneko to try to look at what he did.

Chukling at the cute sight, Issei explained. "Now, with this we'll start the training to for you to overcome your the weakness of your class. When activated, this seal will increase the intensity of gravaty on your body, so be prepared for the difference when I activate it. Are you ready ?"

"... I am." Issei nodded and snapped his fingers.

As soon as he snapped his fingers, Koneko fell to her knees and hands on the ground. She stared at ground, her eyes widened, trying to stand up but the increased weight on her body felt as if would crush her at any second, making her arms shake.

Kiba was also surprised. To see the usual stoic Koneko showing on her expression how she was feeling, it only served to prove how absurd must be the difference of gravaty after the activation of Issei seal. For now, Kiba could only observe, concerned about the small [Rook].

"Quite brutal right?" Koneko heard. She struggled to raise her head to see the person talking to her. She was meet with a indifferent expression on the white-haired boy.

"It hit you harder than expected but don't worry about the intensity raising, that would only happen when you master it at the level that is currently using. That being said, you're going to struggle a lot with the seal as it is now, first you have to be able to stand and move to start training your reflexes again. Do you think you can do it?"

Koneko could see, despite his facial expression, that he wasn't simply trying to put her down. In his eyes she could see his expectation to how she would respond.

Gritting her teeth, Koneko tried to stand up, but the imense pressure only allowed her to raise one of her knees, the other remaining on the ground.

"T-to help Buchou I'll do whatever it takes!" She exclaimed, trying not to fall again.

After hearing her, a warm smile appeared on Issei's face.

"Great answer! For now focus on being able to move normally and trying to run, when you do, the next step will be you dodging sword swings but this time I'll be your oponnent."

"Hai Issei-sempai."

Kiba watched the exchange with fond smile. He was happy to see Koneko outside of her Shell, even if just a little.

"Now for you Kiba, we'll change the focus a bit. Lend me your bokken."

Kiba nodded and threw the wood sword.

"What you're going to have to do is basically this."

A red color began to appear in the bokken, starting by the grip and soon all of the blades outline was red.

Kiba eyes widen in realization. "That's what you did on your last move against Tiamat isn't it?"

Issei nodded. "That's right. What you have to do here is imagine your demonic power flowing from you to your sword. It is a process that requires focus to both acomplish and mantain afterwards. Start by trying to draw your power out and stabilize, afterwards, try making your normal exercices of swordsmanship while maintaining this up. It will be a good way to train you to being able to multitask, since during a battle you won't be able to solely focus on gathering power to your sword." He threw the bokken back at Kiba.

He gripped the sword with his two hands and closed his eyes, trying to picture what Issei described. He stood still for a few minutes, without result, but at one moment he felt something, as if leaking from him. For Kiba it felt like a large amount of his power just left, causing him to think that he already gotten the hang of the exercise. When he opened his eyes, his expression turned to one of disappointment, only barely his grip was covered by a silver color and because of this sight, he lost his focus, causing the silver line to fade away.

"This will not be easy huh?" Kiba asked no one in particular with a small smile.

"I wouldn't count on that." Issei said after watching Kiba. For a first attempt it wasn't bad but Kiba's hastiness caused him to fail.

Kiba looked towards Issei and then at the distance, to Koneko, who was struggling to stand up yet.

"Do you think she'll be able to overcome her weakness?" Kiba concerned

"She has what it takes. In the end, it will really come down to her drive to get stronger. But I honestly think that she will pass this obstacle." Issei answered. He then chuckled

"I expect that by the end of this 10 days, she'll be able to dodge while I use the same amount of strength that used against Tiamat." He added with a ominous grin.

Kiba sweatdroped as he saw an evil aura surround Issei.

' _Goodluck Koneko.'_

\\\

And so it ended the second day. The group as a whole was slowly making progress; Rias now was both able to make and start adapting her techniques to the sphere of Power of Destruction, but still needed a long time to make one; Akeno's pratice of other elements was coming along nicely but was having a bit of difficulty with multi-spell casting; Asia was also having difficulty in creating shields with her demonic power; Kiba made some progress, but still wasn't enough to make the sword's outline covered with his power; Koneko surprinsingly was able to walk with the seal but run was out of the question yet and lastly Eva... he only hoped Tiamat wasn't going overboard, the sounds of explosions from the forest still made Issei worried.

As Issei wondered about the situation, he was finishing taking a bath and putting on a pair of pants to go to sleep. When he left the bathroom and was making his way to bed, he noticed that he wasn't alone. He then saw two arms hug his neck from behind and felt something soft and bare pressing against his back, causing Rebellion to cry of happiness.

"Evening Dante-sama~." Said Tiamat with a sultry tone

"Oh? I thought that you would still be mad at me for what I said yesterday."

"... Yes, I'm still mad at your joke but since it was only that I'll let it go. SO LETS FORGET IT." Tiamat said when she noticed Issei opening his mouth to add his two cents.

"Alright fine." Issei conceded, walking to his bed with Tiamat still attached in his back.

Issei jumped into bed, making Tiamat fall on the other side of the bed. After he changed his position, making him face the ceiling, Tiamat quickly embraced his arm between her bosom and rested her head on his shoulder.

"So, how's her training coming along?" Issei asked after a brief moment of silence.

"... going in small steps. She's already capable of using more boosts from Ddraig, **Balance Breaker** is out of question but the second liberation is a possibility. She's becoming a lot more sturdier, at the game she'll be able to take a good beating and keep going as long as she doesn't overuse Ddraig's power."

That... was a lot better than what Issei expected.

"I see. And what about her arm?"

Tiamat sighed. "It is like you said, her arm really is affecting her basic specs. There was a clear growth from yesterday of basically everything, even her demonic powers reserve. I also saw that she possesses an accelerated healing factor, the bruises from yesterday are gone and the ones from this morning are now only purple marks on her body. But she refuses to rely on her arm to fight, so chances of me seeing that power you said she display in her fight with the crow are small."

"What makes you say that?" He asked while caressing with his free arm her pale blue hair, making the dragon lady almost purr.

"While she tried to come up with ways to attack, she sometimes stopped to glance at her arm but quickly shook her head, as if dissmissing the idea of using it." She explained.

Silence filled the room. Tiamat for a moment thought that Issei fell asleep, since he also stopped caressing her hair. When she looked up towards his face she saw a hardened expression on her master's face.

"... It seems I will have to show up to her training at some point." Issei declared after remaining silent for a while longer.

"And why is that?" Tiamat asked, genuinely curious about the reason

"Because if her arm is anything like a Devil Arm, it has a will of its own like Rebellion. I doubt that she has an established connection with it, so if she keeps neglecting or ignoring it, it will try to come out on its own and the it's timing may end up being a bad one."

"...Very well then, I expect to see you stopping by one of the remaining days. Now how about we do something else?" She asked teasingly while sliding down one of her hands through Issei's chest. When her hand was about to pass his packs, Issei grabbed her hand.

"Yeah, there's no way that's going to happen here. No need to make a broadcast to whoever sleep next to this room."

"Confident much aren't we~? And besides, it's not like some of those little devils haven't thought about you like that." She said

"That isn't reason to give them material on the matter and also," He gave her a smirk. "It isn't about confidence as much as it is about the fact that you lived in that forest for who knows how long. Alone, almost gives me the right to call you a maiden again."

Tiamat backed off to stared at Issei, a look of shock all over her face.

"What? Are you going to deny it?"

Tiamat puffed her cheeks, crossed her arms under her breasts and looked away poutting.

Seeing the usually composed dragon lady acting like a child was a once in a lifetime thing.

' _So c-cute. '_

 **[Aye.]**

He began to poke her cheeks. Tiamat eyebrow began to twitch until the point she had enough and turned to Issei, fire burning in her pupils.

But her fire subsided when she was met with a kiss, a quick kiss, but it was enough for her to feel his affection and warmth for her.

He lay down again. "We better catch some sleep, tomorrow is going to be another busy day."

Tiamat also went back to her previous position and fell asleep with a smile on her face.

' _Oh, almost forgot! I have to keep my end of the bet.'_ Issei thought

 **[What bet..! NO please don't do this! We've been friends for decades!]** Rebellion pleaded.

' _Sorry pal, a bet is a bet.'_

 **[NOOOO-]** And just like that, Rebellion was denied a moment of hapiness.

* * *

Already passed half of the days of training, the group as a whole was progressing nicely. Kiba was now able to drawn his power to his sword and was now training in maintaining it; Koneko now trained with Issei, dodging his attacks and was capable of runing for a fews minutes with the seal; Asia only recently got the hang of magic shield and now was trying to make it last longer and Rias began practicing elemental magic with Akeno.

There two problems that he had to adress. One was Eva refusing to use her arm and the other was about Akeno.

Right now Issei was sitting close to where both Rias and Akeno were training elemental magic. He was observing more Akeno than anything at the moment.

' _What you do think?'_ Issei asked his sword

 **[Huh? About the black haired girl?]** Rebellion asked, to which Issei nodded

 **[... I don't know. There's no doubt about her hiding something whitin her, but you consider that since she is hiding it, she must have her reasons to do so. So thread carefully.]** Rebellion advised.

He wasn't wrong. Althought Issei now may have the trust of the Gremory group, he couldn't say the same about intimacy. By going and asking her about whatever she's hiding, things could go sour fast. It all came down to chances of getting a better chance in the Rating Game.

Issei gave a sigh, preparing himself for the worst, before standing up and walk towards Akeno.

Akeno noticed Issei walking in her direction with a thoughtful and stopped her spell casting.

"Is everything alright Issei-kun?"

Issei stared at her for a bit before rubbing the back of his head.

"Akeno... what are you hiding?"

...

Akeno barely winced but maintained her usual smiling face, even Rias at the distance stopped her practice and turned her gaze at the two, her eyes filled with concern.

' _Not a good start'_ Issei thought as he watched the reaction of the two girls.

Akeno tilted her head. "What do you mean Issei-kun?" She asked and althought small, Issei noticed an edge in her tone.

"Exactly what I asked you Akeno, there's no need to lie."

Akeno's expression remained the same, but there was a growing tension in the air. Rias watched the two while holding her breath.

"... You don't have to worry about Issei-kun. That part is nothing significant."

Rias walked towards Akeno, resting her hands on her shoulders. Issei gave another sigh.

"Don't talk like that. Ignoring this part of you may be holding back your potential. If you were to use it, it would only help you guys la-"

"NO!"

Akeno's outburst caught both Issei and Rias by suprise. Gone was the cheerful black-haired girl. Now staring, no, glaring at him was an angry and bitter Akeno.

"I refuse to rely on it! It is a disgusting part that I can't get rid of and what's worse, I don't need it! I can do just fine as I am now." She said coldly

Rias knew that this was a sore subject, but she didn't expected her [Queen] to react like this after all this time. She was going to sugest that she take a break when someone spoke first.

"Oh? You don't need it?" Issei asked with coldness that surpassed that of Akeno.

When Rias turned to the boy, she flinched. The usually bright Issei was exchanged by one that had a emotionless expression and demeanour. Even Akeno's glare faltered at his sudden change. In his eyes, usually lively, they were now cold and angry, Akeno thought for a second that he looked at her with what seemed to be disappointment, but it quickly vanished.

"Stop saying such childish things. I'll break it to you now, as you are right now you're not fine or enough. If you were enough, then no one would need to worry about the game result, but alas you're not. Before starting training, you almost didn't reached Raiser's [Queen] in terms of power. I don't know your reasons for your grudge, but it would be best for you to drop it or you will regret it later on." He said in a rash and cold tone

Both girls were stunned by his speech and demeanour. They weren't expecting him to answer Akeno's outburst like that, no, they weren't expecting him to say anything at all.

For what seemed like hours, no one moved or said anything, as if time froze and the three were statues, both girls staring at Issei.

"Buchou.." Akeno called. "I'm going to take a break from the training to recover my energy."

Rias watched as Akeno left, she saw tears running down her cheeks while her gaze staring at the ground, lost in a world of her own.

Rias turned to glare at Issei, who was still looking at Akeno.

"Why did you do that?" She asked angrily

Issei's gaze shift towards the Gremory heiress

"Like I said, if it has the chance of help-"

"I understood that part!" Rias exclaimed, her anger making her leak some of her crimson aura around her. "What I'm asking is about what you said at the end! I understand the need of getting stronger in order to win, but what you did was excessive!"

Although Rias was grateful for everything Issei had been doing for her and her peerage, it didn't mean she wouldn't confront him if something of this nature happen.

Issei was about to answer her when Rebellion spoked first.

 **[Partner, calm down. I can understand your reaction, but you've got to consider that her situation isn't the same as yours was. You snapped at her.]**

It was true. When her heard Akeno's outburst, he snapped. What he saw before him was basically the same thing that he use to do when he was younger. Back when he was still bitter towards his father, when he didn't know Rebellion as well as he does know and back when his brother was still alive...

Issei shifted his gaze towards the sky, observing the movements of the clouds.

Rias watched as Issei closed his eyes, his face still looking up. She wasn't letting him off until he answered her. She didn't pressed him more because she noticed that his body was loosing up and she could see him taking long breaths of air.

"I said those things because in the world that we live in, even in this period of calm, storms may appear and it may come a day that the difference between something bad happening or not could be whatever she's holding back. And adding this kind of regret to a life as long as one that a devil has will do no good for her." Issei explained with, to Rias surprise, a bitter tone.

"Even so, you have no idea of what happened in her past so you have no way of knowing if her hatred is justified or not."

Still looking at Issei, who now had his eyes open and a saddened expression, staring at the sky again. Rias could see that even thought he was talking to her, he seemed to be lost in thought, reminiscing about a bad memory, if the pain in his eyes were any indication. Rias couldn't help but wonder what did this boy have been through..

"I may not know what happened to her," Issei suddenly said, causing Rias to snap out of her trance." I could see that her anger was masking her pain and sorrow, and believe, unfortunately I know a thing or two about this."

Rias bit her lip. She didn't expect her confrontation with Issei to lead him to remember painful memories of his past, even if she was still upset about how he spoke to Akeno, she couldn't help but want to comfort the boy in front of her. The boy who seemed always seemed a bit sarcastic and strong, now looked almost fragile.

She slowly began walking towards him, and when she was about to put her hand in his shoulder, he gave a heavy sigh, causing Rias to jump back in surprise. Luckly for her, Issei was so lost in his memorys that he didn't noticed her actions.

He started to rub the of his head. "Aaaah, I messed up big time. I should probably look for her and apolagize." He said as he turned to the direction that Akeno left and began to walk.

"WAIT!" Rias exclaimed, causing Issei to halt.

"... It would be best if you give her some time alone. For now she will probably be wary of you, so even if you were to apologize it would fall to deaf ears."

Issei frowed at this, but it quickly faded, after all, he created this situation.

Rias gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'll try talking to her in the meanwhile."

Issei nodded in return. "I'll leave it in your hands for now then."

The day went without further complications, it was night time when everyone went back to the mansion. When all of them gathered in the table to have dinner, everyone was making small talk regarding different topics, but it was possible to notice the lingering tension between Akeno and Issei, more from the [Queen] side than from the boy, as Akeno was trying her best to avoid even looking at his direction if possible to avoid.

After dinner, the group passed to the living room, where Rias began to teach to Eva and Asia about Devil's knowledge.

Rias had already explained the Three Factions and its leaders and was wrapping up about the Great War.

"Lastly, we have the Civil War that happened after the Great War had its shaky stop." Rias started.

She was standing in the middle of the living room, surrounded by sofas, which her peerage were sitting, keenly listening her explanation.

Tiamat was sitting away from the group on a armchair, reading a book to pass time and Issei sat close to the window, looking outside but still listening to Rias.

"The civil war happened because of conflitic of interests between two sides that appeared after the Great War ended. Every faction had its losses from the war, ours were, aside from numerous high-class devils, our leadership, The Four Great Satans. One side was composed by the descendants of our former leaders, who intended to carry on their legacy by gathering the strong supporters and finish what they started, the Great War to realize the world domination ambition of the Original Satans."

Rias stopped to let Eva and Asia assimilate what she just said.

"Those who opposed this course of action were know as the Anti-Satan Faction. They wanted to ensure the survival of the Devils as a species, causing the war to break. Onii-sama and Sona's sister fought in this war."

Asia already had a general idea of the supernatural history thanks to being a former nun, it didn't shocked her a lot when she heard about the wars. Eva on the other hand, was bewildered by the violent and conflictive past of Devils.

"How did this war ended?" She asked curiously

"... In the beginning, it always changed which side had the upper hand, but soon it began to drag on, having many casualties for both sides, diminishing the already small numbers of high-class devils. This back and forth continued until the moment the side of the descendants had somehow added to their forces lesser and mid-class demons, in numbers big enough to overlap the numbers of 'soldiers' that they had lost."

This time, Asia reaction surpassed Eva. The other members of the peerage were only observing the reaction of the two girls and could understand Asia's shocked expression.

"B-but Buchou," Asia said, gaining Rias attention. "I-I thought that demons, even in the times of the Great War, had long since disappeared! For you to say that they took part in a this conflict and in such numbers..."

Rias gave her a smile. "You're not wrong Asia. Demons are considered basically extinct nowadays," Asia opened her mouth to speak but Rias stopped her with a motion of her hand. "However, I do not know how the descendants were able to obtain so many demons. No matter how many books I read, not one mentioned how the demons joined their side."

"T-then how did the Anti-Satan Faction won Buchou?" Asia asked

"The war became even more bloodier, and in reality, we were actually on the path that Onii-sama's side wished to avoid, the extinction of our race." Rias said sombrely

"But then, a third party entered the fray. After that the overwhelming number of demons began to steadly decrease, turning the tides of the war."

"Whoa, that's amazing! Who was this group that sided with your brother Buchou?" Eva asked

"Acording to all sources that I found, this party didn't sided with anyone." Rias said, causing Eva and Asia to tilt their heads to the side in confusion, making Rias giggle at their reaction.

"And also, it wasn't a group or anything similar, it was only one person."

Asia eyes widened in shock while Eva's jaw almost hit the floor.

"WHAT! How can one person do that?!" Eva asked, shocked

"Eva, don't you think that Tiamat and Issei are very strong?" Rias asked, to which she nodded.

"Then you should know that there are many beings out there stronger than them."

Eva's jaw fell again, causing Rias and her peerage to laugh.

While she couldn't say that Rias claim was wrong, it didn't sit well with Tiamat to think about those above her in terms of power, but she could say that the part about Issei wasn't exactly right.

"And in this case, the one who joined the war is considered a legend, even at that time. It was one of the sons of the feared demon general Sparda, know by many as Devil Hunter. It was said that his power rivaled that of gods."

"A-as strong as gods?" Asia asked rhetorically, her face pale.

"Wow, its a good thing he was on our side then." Eva said, only to frown as Rias shook her head.

"He wasn't on our side." She said, making the newest members of her peerage confused. "All that is said is that he went after the demons and whoever stood in his way, he didn't had interest in who would win the war. You could say that we were lucky to have his help, even if not intentionally."

"So what happened after the war?" Eva asked

"The new Maous were announced, being the same leaders of today, although defeated, there are members of the opposing faction alive but in hiding. Regarding the Devil Hunter, he disappeared. Like I said he only appeared because of the demons." Rias explained.

Tiamat glanced at Issei as she heard Rias to see his reaction. She saw him leaning his cheek on the palm of his hand, his face still turned to the window but now with his eyes closed. He seemed to be asleep, but she knew he was lost in his memories.

"I think thats enough for tonight," Rias said while clapping her hands."Lets rest to continue training tomorrow."

As her peerage was getting up and making its way to each room, she saw Akeno look at the sleeping Issei with a blank look before walking away.

Rias gave a heavy sigh. _'This is going to be hard.'_

* * *

Akeno found herself lost in thought as she walked through the woods. Their period of training was nearing its end, while Akeno and the others were doing well on their training, the black haired girl couldn't say the same about her situation with Issei.

She did felt bad for lashing out at him but the words he said afterward and his whole demeanour not only made her scared of him but the harshness of it hurt her. As if that wasn't enough, after this confrontation memories of her childhood came flooding back, both good and bad, causing her to feel conflicted as to how to feel and what to do about her past of even being with Rias, back when she was only a hybrid of human and fallen angel and lived with her parents.

Smiling sadly, Akeno remembered the times where she used to live with her father, one of the leaders of the Fallen Angel group and her mother, a Shinto priestess. At that time, life was simple yet perfect in her opinion, she had loving parents and was able to smile everyday without a care in the world. But that was gone on that fateful day. As the memories flashed by, Akeno's smile faded, giving place to a sorrowful expression. As she continue her walk, she hugged herself.

On the day that her life changed, assassins sent by her father's enemys took the oportunity to cause him harm by going after his wife and daughter on a day that they were alone, since Akeno's father was away.

When her father arrived home, he was able to deal with the assassins but he arrived a little too late, although Akeno was alive, she was in a state of shock, hugging her mothers dead body, trying to get her to wake up. Her clothes and arms soaked in blood, her eyes widened in shock with tears falling.

He tried to console Akeno, but as she saw him approaching her and remembering the assassins saying things like it was hers and her mothers fault for living with an abomination, Akeno, lost in despair, screamed to her father to stay away and leave, saying that it was his fault, that he wasn't there to protect them and that she hated him.

Disheartened by his wifes death and Akeno's claims, he complied, leaving her alone. From that point, Akenos life revolve on surviving from one day to the other, always on the run, without a moment of peace. If it wasn't for Rias...

"WHAT! There's no way I used this damned thing to win!"

The shout broke Akeno's train of thought and made her realise that she had reached her destination, the clearing where Eva is training everyday with Tiamat, only that today it wasn't the dragon lady with her, but Issei.

Akeno subconsciously stiffened up when she saw the boy. She had come here because Rias had been frequently asking her to talk to the boy, to give him a chance to apologize and, she hoped, explained why he acted that way. It took the Gremory heiress a lot of time, but in the end she convinced her [Queen] to give Issei a chance.

"But you did." Issei stated calmly

Akeno observed the site before her, Issei standing a few feets away from Eva, holding a bokken in his hand while calmly staring at her. Eva, on the other hand, seemed agitated and even angry, clutching her right arm. Ruth, Evas familiar was sitting close to her, with an aphreensive look to his master.

"Just like right now, you had exausthed yourself to the point where using the Boosted Gear would be deadly for you. Admist your desperation to beat that crow, your arm resonated with your will, giving the power needed." Issei explained, leaving Akeno surprised, since it was accorded between the group not to inquire Eva about her arm unless she spoke about it.

Eva stared at her right arm, before applying more strength in her grip while visibly gritting her teeth.

"This damn arm, you have no idea what it cause to me." She said between her teeth. Her tone filled with hatred, surprising Akeno and, to a certain point, Issei.

Eva eyes grew wide before glaring at Issei. "Don´t even think about asking me to try to use it in the game." She hissed

Akeno's face hardened and she also clenched her hands. _'So that's what he told her what happened at the church, it seems that there was no reason to give him a chance.'_ Akeno thought saddened

Issei calmly blinked under Eva's glare.

"Eva," Issei called. "Aside from Ddraig, do you hear another voice on your subconscious?" Causing Eva face to become one of confusion.

Before Eva could answer, the Boosted Gear jewel shone

 **{The girl can't hear as of now, but yes, there is someone else here, but it seems to be locked on a deeper level for now and if its screams are any indication, it is trying to break free.}** Ddraig declared

Eva was already surprise by Ddraig speaking outside her mind, but what he said that left her worried.

"This is bad, maybe even worse then what I hoped." Issei said

"What do you mean?" She inquired

"That time in the church, you woke up the power that resides within your arm. The thing is, like with your gauntlet, it comes with a being of sorts. And by what Ddraig said, the longer you ignore it the angrier and more violent it will become." Issei said grimly

Eva shivered at the thought. "So, you want me to learn how to use whatever it is you said I used at the church?" She asked, gaining a nod from Issei.

Eva frowned and was about to strongly decline such idea, but stopped when Issei disapeared in a blur. Feeling mortal danger closing in, she instinctively raised her right arm and at the same time, Issei appeared in front of her and his bokken, its blade covered with his demonic power, collided against her right arm, its impact creating gusts of wind, blowing Ruth back.

Eva was suprised by his actions, but didn't complain because a second later she noticed that she had been able to block an attack of the guy who beat her sensei, making her only stare with her mouth gaped.

"Even if you don't like it, you on a subconscious level rely or believe in your right arm over the Boosted Gear for protection." He said causing her to wince

Akeno, believing Issei was going to take this even further than when he asked her, had started walking towards the two in order to separate the two and take Eva as far away from Issei before his mood shifted to same of that day. Her determination to do so went away the moment when, instead of seeing a cold expression, she saw his expression soften up, making her stop in her tracks.

"You're walking a dangerous path you know." He said, eliciting Eva to raise her eyebrows in confusion

"As I said, the more you ignore the being imprisioned in there," He said pointing to her arm. "The angrier it will get and it will try to get out, no just from his prison, but to the outside world."

Both Eva and Akeno, who hadn't made herself know for the other two, eyes grew wide at what Issei was hinting at.

"If you don't try to learn how to properly use your power, there's a high chance that when whatever is locked up gets out and trust me, it will eventually break free, it will try to battle you for control to manifest itself on the outside and you may end up hurting those that you care about." He explained

Eva gulped as she heard Issei. She wanted nothing to do with that arm of hers, yes, but could she continue to do so at the risk of losing it and hurting the one that saved her, the ones that gave her a chance of a better life?

As this internal battle raged within her, Issei stood silent, the bokken still against her arm. He keep looking at Eva's conflicted expression, until something caught his attention.

The thin layer of demonic power that covered the bokken began to waver, it started slow, but soon changed its pace, confusing Issei, who didn't even remember the last time that he was unable to stabilize his power in his sword.

His mild surprise changed to shock when he saw his demonic power leave the bokken to one place: Eva's right arm.

' _I-its reacting to her arm?!'_ He thought before looking at Eva's face again

As she still debated on what to do, Eva's resolve was slowly crumbling at the face of such grim possibility. She only stopped pondering when she heard a breaking sound of something metalic inside her head and soon after she heard a roar loud enough to the point where she couldn't even think straight.

Feeling like her head would split apart, she put one of her hands on her head, while almost falling to her knees with a pained expression.

Worried about the girl, Issei started to approach her when she started screaming in pain, the hand that was on her head once more clutched her right arm, that was trembling and glowing in a light blue color through her glove.

Issei felt a hand grabbing his shoulder and turned to see, to his surprise, Akeno glaring at him.

"What did you do?" She shouted

Issei simply shook his head. "I didn't do a thing, my best guess is that whats happening is the latest jail break attempt of whoever lives in her arm."

"Can't you do anything about it?" Issei jaw clenched at the question

"Unfortunately, this is solely between her and her tenant, if I try to meddle, it may only make things worse."

The unpleasent site of Eva internal battle continued for quite a while. Both Akeno and Issei were worried, Akeno because of the pain her kouhai seemed to be feeling and Issei, to a certain extend the same, but he was also concerned about Eva losing this battle.

After a while more, Eva stopped trembling and screaming, resting her forehead on the ground while panting heavily, hiding her face.

Issei narrowed his eyes while carefully seaching for any abrupt movements, his grip on the bokken thightening.

Akeno walked towards the fallen girl. "Eva? How are you feeling?"

Having no response, Akeno streched her arm to try to get Eva's attention.

At the same time, Issei felt Eva's aura rise, but it was different, it felt feral and... malicious.

"WAIT AKENO!" Issei shouted, but it was too late

Before Akeno reacted, Eva's head shot upwards and what the older girl saw scared her. Eva's eyes were missing her pupils and iris, her sclera now was blue, even if she couldn't see it, Akeno felt that she was being glared at.

With a roar that didn't belong to the girl, 'Eva' raised her right arm, summoning the massive arm that squashed the fallen angel. She then began to moved it towards Akeno with the intent to kill her.

At the site of the ominous demonic arm flying towards her, Akeno froze. As it's huge palm close in, Akeno could only close her eyes, thinking that at least she would be able to see her mother again.

"SHIT!"

Akeno felt her body being throw, before hearing different sounds. First of something breaking, followed by the sound of ripping and crunching or snapping. After hitting the ground, Akeno turned her gaze to where she was previously standing and she had to raise her hand to her mouth to not scream, her eyes widened in horror.

Standing in her place was Issei, the bokken in his hand broken, splinters spread all around him, the left shoulder and its sleeve were ripped apart from the rest of his shirt. What truly caused Akeno to choke in horror was Issei's left arm, it wasn't there anymore.

Blood gushed from where his arm was torned apart, there was bloodstains on various parts of his shirt, on his face as well. Akeno tried to stand up to go to him and stop the bleeding

"DON'T!" He shouted while still staring at the 'possessed' Eva, causing Akeno to wince at his tone

"But you-" She tried to argue

"If you come closer, you will turn its attention to you. This is above your league, so stay away!"

Akeno felt a pang of hurt and guilt in her chest hearing his statement, she was about to rebuke, only to be interrupted once more.

"Ruth, take her to a safe distance! I'll deal with Eva!" He ordered.

Ruth barked in acknowledgment, he ran up to her and motioned with his head to Akeno rest up in his back. She hesitated for a moment, bitting her lip at the site of Issei, but in the end decided to comply.

As Issei heard the sound of Ruth running getting lower, he gave a heavy sigh and analised the situation. It wasn't looking pretty.

No matter where he quickly glanced at, he couldn't find his left arm. And given that after that move, the huge demonic arm was still clenching its fist, it was save to assume that he was holding the arm. Although Issei was surprised by the speed that Eva sumonned the arm, what surprised him the most was the ease that she had on breaking his weapon, even if it was only a bokken, he expected that after he coated the blade with his power again it would at least hold on for a few hits, but that was not the case, costing him not only the blade but his arm, thankfully, his healing factor started to kick in so the bleeding had already stopped.

' _It seems you're up Rebellion.'_

 **[Whenever you're ready Partner.]** Rebellion said

Their coversation was cut short by a feral roar that Eva let out before jumping towards Issei, preparing to punch him. He quickly pulled Rebellion in its dormant form and got on guard, causing Eva's punch to hit the flat side of Rebellions blade, creating gusts of wind and making Issei's feet dug into the ground.

Applying more strength in his arm, Issei was able to knock back the massive arm in the air. While it was still knocked back, he jumped towards it, passing his power to Rebellion, he aimed the sword at the pulse of the floating arm and in thrusting motion, he dug the blade into the arm, causing it to slam on the ground, creating a small creater.

' _Shit! This arm is as tough as Tiamat scales!"_

 **[Indeed. It almost didn't sink half of my blade.]** Rebellion added

He noticed Eva trying to get on her feet but not being able to lift her right arm, since it was connected to the bigger one, which was now pinned down.

In other to make the arm open its hand, he started to twist the blade on its pulse. After resisting for a while it opened its hand.

Issei quickly took his sword out of the arm and rested it on his back then grabbed his detached arm, jumping away from Eva.

He positioned his arm at the place where it was torn away and proceeded to concentrate his demonic power at the spot, causing it to leak before connecting the arm to his body.

"That's better," He said, throwing some punches to test the arm. "Now, back to the problem at hand." He said while grabbing Rebellion.

Eva was already dashing towards him, trying to land another punch.

He parried the punch, trying to make her lose her balance again, but that didn't work out. She quickly recovered and began attacking Issei with what it seemed an endless flurry of punches.

The site of the fight became a place where no one would be able to approach, at each punched throwed and then parried, gusts of wind were made, causing the closest trees to almost fall from the constant agressive wind hitting them. From afar, Akeno watched in awe the fight occuring, as her hair and skirt flew and she kept one hand on a tree near her so that she wouldn't be knocked back. She couldn't believe how fast Issei turned situation that look desperate to one of equal grounds.

She brought her free hand to her heart as she remembered how Issei ended up when he protected her, and remembered his harsh words to her. She felt guilty that he ended up in that state and wondered, if she had listened to him that day, would it had made a difference now, would she be able to stand next to him as he tried by himself to bring Eva, her kouhai both at school and in the peerage, to her senses? Even after the training she had, she couldn't help but feel useless now.

' _This isn't taking us anywhere, any ideas?'_ Issei thought as he continued to parry Eva's endless assault.

 **[...It seems that even if you damage the arm that was sumonned, it wont hurt the girl and it wont make it disappear.]**

Rebellion was right, Issei had taken notice that the place where he attack the arm earlier had already healed. It seems that the arm would continue attacking unless he obliterate it with a powerful attack and that was out of question, since he would have to lift his seals and basically say goodbye to his cover. He couldn't wait for her to get tired as well, the one in control seemed to be given enough power to keep up with Issei for the meantime, if he keep this pace up he will end up causing serious damage to Eva's body.

Issei gave a sigh. It seems there wouldn't be another way. He would to attack her right arm at the risk of slaying her supposed Devil Arm.

 **[Hm, yes it seems that dealing damage directly to the girls tenant is the best option a tour disposal.]** Rebellion commented

' _Then its decided.'_ Issei thought while grinning.

Issei grabbed the swords grip with his two while resting it on his back, pouring as much demonic power in the blade as possible and waited for the fist to get close.

When it was close enough, he made an upward movement **(High Time)** with the sword, the force being too much for Eva and ended up knocking the arm once more. The gusts of wind that were going to the sides before now all went along with Issei's move, towards the sky, almost pulling the trees out of their roots.

Issei dashed towards Eva, Rebellion positioned at his side.

' _I'm going to start pumping more power to you so change to your awakened form.'_

 **[Alright, I know that this way the risk of exposure is small but are you certain?]**

' _I'm not taking any chances. If that arm really is a Devil Arm, you of all people should know that takes one to beat another.'_

Rebellion didn't said anything else, only complied to his wielder request.

As soon as he changed, not only the outline of the blade was red but the sword in its entirety became a red blur **(Stinger)**.

Feeling the overwhelmingly power attack nearing along with a kindredless feeling towards Rebellion, Eva raised her right arm to block, as if challenging Rebellion to beat him.

 **[Very well! I accept your challenge, allow me to show you the difference of might between the two of us!]** Rebellion roared

When the two collided, the shockwave it caused surpassed the ones from before, causing a few trees to fall after everything they've been through. As the friction between the two continued, they began to sunk the ground beneath then, and Eva was starting to be pushed back.

Issei let out a roar before pumping even more of his avaliable power into Rebellion and then the friction stopped, with Eva screaming in pain. Issei had manage to penetrate the resiliant arm, only with almost the tip of Rebellion, but enough to damage Eva's tenant, causing her to collapse.

The aftershock of this clash sent Issei flying back, crashing through a tree.

Akeno ran towards the crater that Eva had fell, she was worried about Issei too, more than she knew, but after everything that she had seen he do, she doubted that flying at a tree would be what ended him.

Relief washed over Akeno when she saw Eva breathing, she kneeled close to her and looked at the place where Issei's last attack hit. It had a small hole, like a crack.

"That was fun, but lets hope that it doesn't happen again."

Akeno turned to see Issei walking to the crater. Akeno's cheek turned slightly pink, the already torned shirt Issei was wearing now was basically taters, barely covering anything, showing his toned body.

"What happened here?" Akeno asked, pointing to Eva's arm

Issei rubbed the back of his head. "Basically, I striked her tenant directly so he backed off for now."

"I see."

Issei squated near Eva and pick her up, making her rest in his back. He had already stored Rebellion in its pocket dimension.

"Let's take her back to the mansion, she's gonna need to rest for a good time." He said

The walk back was a silent one, uncomfortable silent for Akeno. She still felt guilty to what happened to Issei, even if he seemed and most likely wasn't even thinking on holding it against her.

As they reached Eva's room, Issei slowly put her on the bed, as if to not disturb her, even if an explosion wouldn't be able to wake her up for now.

Akeno was standing still near the bed, fidgeting, thinking on how to apologize.

"I'm sorry." Akeno eyes grew in suprise as she turned her gaze towards Issei who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What..?"

"About the other day, how I reacted and what I said to you, I'm sorry."

Akeno gasped, after what happened today she had forgotten all about how she resented Issei for what he said.

Issei rubbed his neck. "Do you mind listening to a history? I need to explain myself to you. "

Akeno looked deep in his eyes and to her suprise, she saw bitterness and pain on them. Steeling herself, she agreed to listen to it.

He told her about the day that he lost his mother, leaving out his brother, mother and father name.

Akeno felt as if her heart was stuck in her throat. It never crossed her mind that Issei had such a painful past. She was already sobbing and her tears began to fall when he said that from the place his mother left him to hide, even after she tried to ran as far away as possible, he still heard when the demons killed her.

When he finished telling her, Akeno hugged him, the sorrow in his voice as he spoke was too much for her. But what made her tighten her hug was the realization that followed.

' _J-just like me, he lost everything when young..'_

"I snapped at you because it hit close to home, but still, it doesn't justify my actions towards you. Although I do think to some extend what I said, I could have done it in a better way."

"I-it's fine, you do have your reasons, but why did you say that I could end up carrying a regret for the rest of my life?"

Issei tensed up and for a moment, Akeno thought that he would lash out.

But after a moment he relaxed and stared at the ceiling.

"When I was younger, just like you hate whatever it is you have, I hated my demonic side." Akeno eyes grew in shock

"After my mother passed away, I despised my father for not being there for me and my family and used to avoid using as much as possible my demonic powers. But because of my hatred, when the time came, what I had wasn't enough and ended up paying the price."

"W-what happened?" She asked, hoping not to anger him for prying even more

A sad smile appeared on his face. "...I couldn't save my brother from himself." He said, his tone almost broken

Akeno looked at the Issei in front of her. Just like her, he has a side filled with painful memories that anyone would like to forget, she could perfectly understand now why he acted the way he did, it was out of concern for her.

Akeno grabbed one of his hands, getting his attetion. "I would also like to tell you something. Would you listen to me?" She asked, shy like a little girl

"Of course." Issei said

Akeno told him of her story, she had to make some stops, as this was a dificult topic for to talk about and Issei calmly waited her to calm down and continue talking. She noticed that not once did he turned his gaze away and his expression didnt change from a stoic one, as he intently listened to her. But she could see compassion in his eyes.

When she finished telling, she began to cry once more and right after she felt warm, she was enveloped by Issei's hug. He caressed her back, as he waited for her to let it out of her system as she cried in his chest.

After a while, Akeno stopped crying. "Are you feeling better?"

Akeno, still resting her head on his chest, nodded. She noticed that she felt safe in his embrace.

"...So, you're Baraqiel's daughter?" He asked

Akeno raised her head surprised. While telling her past, she didn't mentioned her fathers name.

Sensing her confusion, Issei gave a small smile. "I've heard of what happened with his family, but had never heard names." He explained

"...What should I do then?" She asked, at loss on what to do.

Her conviction of hating her father and never using her fallen angel powers was still there, but when she recalls what Issei told her, it waves greatly.

"...I think you should give him a chance," He said after a while. "Talk to him or at least, if it gives you peace of mind, hear his reason for not being with you and your mother that day."

Issei could see in her eyes her struggle in deciding what to do. He grabbed her hand, causing her to focus on him the moment she felt his warmth.

"I'm not saying for to do nor decide this today or tomorrow. But think about it. For me it was easy to hate my father and hard to forgive because I have no recollection of my interactions with him. But I doubt that you can say the same, underneath your pain and sorrow, don't you have good memories with him?" Issei asked

Akeno stopped to think about what he said, trying to look past the emotions of that night, and after a moment, more tears fell, but this time, they were of joy.

"Y-yes(sob)I-I do have!" Akeno said through her sobs, as she remembered the times where she used to eat and bath with her father.

Issei smiled warmly at her. "Then, do you think its worth giving him a chance before its too late?"

She promptly nodded, then gave him one more hug.

"Thank you."

"Glad to help." He said

"...Do you mind if we stay like this for a while longer?" Akeno asked shyly while burying her head on his chest

"On Eva's room?" He asked with a playful tone

"If she didn't wake up until now, I doubt that us being quiet for a while will do the job." She said with a small smile.

Issei chuckled. "Fair enough." He said softly.

Outside the room, a red haired girl stopped leaning against the door and walked away, her fingers stopping the lonely tear from falling, a smile spread through her face.

* * *

It was now the last night of the training period. Everything that could be done was done, according to Issei, if they stayed focused, the outcome had a high chance of being a good one.

Yet, Rias still thought that there was somthing missing, something that she overlooked that would help. She was still awake, reading a book about about the 72 Pillars, specifically about the Phenex clan while basking under the moonlight.

"Oh? I didn't think there would still be anyone awake."

Rias saw Issei coming from the kitchen while giving a yawn.

Issei looked at the book in Rias hand and gave her a smile.

"Having trouble to sleep?"

Rias chuckled. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well, you are alone, in the middle of the night with a book open on the page about your upcoming enemie." Issei said as he took a seat near Rias

Her chuckles subsidded when she remembered the conversation she heard between Issei and Akeno. She didn't intended to hear such private conversation, but when she saw the two coming to the mansion carrying Eva, Rias got worried and followed then. What she hear only served as a reminder of how little she actually knew about him..

"Did you enjoyed that history time?"

"Eh?" Rias looked at Issei, surprised by his question

"You were listening the other day weren't you?" He asked as he raised his eyebrows

"I-I did, no t-that's... I d-didn't mean." Rias stuttered, her face becoming the same color as her hair.

Issei gave her a smirk. "Its alright, theres no need to apologize. At least I wont have to tell it twice."

"For what is worth, I'm sorry. Both for earsdropping and... you know."

Issei dissmissed it with a wave of his hand. "Its fine, I had enough time to cope with it... or so I thought until recently."

The two remained in silence for a while, enjoying each other company.

"Aside from the obvious reason," Issei started. "Why are you against this marriage?"

Rias turned her gaze to the star filled sky, thinking on how to put into words.

"... I'm Gremory." She said, causing Issei to raise one of his eyebrows but didn't commented as Rias still seemed to be pondering on what to say.

"I feel proud of being one. However, this is also something that is a burden to me. Everyone looks at me as Rias from the Gremory. I can't have them look at me simply as Rias. That's why I'm enjoying my life in the human world. They don't know about the Gremory the Devil. Everyone looks at me as who I am. I really like that feeling. I never felt something like this in the Devils' society, and I never will now on as well. The only time I can enjoy my life as myself is when I'm in the human world." She explained while still looking towards the sky.

"I want to be with someone who will love me as Rias without the fact that I'm a Gremory. That's my small dream I have… Unfortunately, Raiser only looks at me as Rias from the Gremory. And he loves me as Rias from the Gremory. That's why I hate it. But still, the pride of being a Gremory is very important. My feelings may be complicated, but I want to cherish this small dream I have."

Silence once more filled the room, as Issei let Rias words sink in.

"Rias." Issei called after a while, startling Rias.

It was the first time she heard him call her by her name, without even adding senpai or anything of te like. Rias didn't know why but, she liked, hearing him say her name.

"Small or not, it is still a dream worth fighting for, so I don't believe you're wrong. That being said, all of you have surpassed your limitations, you're more than ready to fight. I understand that this won't make your anxiety fade, but you can rest assured that you're more than capable of keeping your dream."

"With that being said, would you care for one last advice?"

Issei's words did gave her a little peace of mind. She nodded, curious to see what he would say.

Issei stared at her eyes for a while, causing Rias face to heat up a bit

"On the game, don't let your pride cloud your judgment." He said and stood up

"What, what do you mean?" Rias asked

Almost at the stairs, Issei turned his face to her.

"That is for you to figure it out." And went to his room

Rias stared at Issei's back, trying to understand what he said. She kept thinking about it for a while but found no answer to this little puzzle he gave her.

* * *

The OCR members were now gathered in the old school building, waiting for the time the game would start. Everyone except Asia and Tiamat is wearing the school uniform.

As everyone tried to relax for the game, a magic circle glows and Grayfia appears from it.

"Is everyone ready? It's ten minutes before the match."

Rias and her peerage stands up after Grayfia-san confirms them. Grayfia-san then starts to explain about the battle.

"When it becomes the time to start the battle, you will be teleported to the battlefield through this magic-circle. The location of the place is in a different dimension used for battles. You may fight with all your power. It's a disposable space so feel free to fight to your satisfaction."

"Also Rias-sama," Grayfia called. "This 'Rating Game' battle will also be viewed by members of both households from a different location through broadcast. Maou Lucifer-sama will also be viewing this battle. Please do not forget about it." She advised.

Grayfia then turned towards Issei.

"Sirzechs-sama invites you to watch the game with him."

This surprises Rias and the older members of her peerage.

"What? I did told that I somewhat knew your brother." He said to Rias before turning back to Grayfia

"Alright, I'll go watch it with him." He said, standing up and walking towards Grayfia and the magic circle.

Tiamat quickly got up as well and intertwined her arm with Issei's once more, causing Grayfia's eyebrow slightly twitch and a tick mark appear on some of the other girls.

"I assume you wish to join as well Tiamat-sama?"

Grayfia almost gritted her teeth when she saw the smirk that appeared on the dragon lady's face when the maid adressed her.

"But of course, after all, I do have to show that I take my job seriously and what better way to do so than watching one of your games with one of your leaders."

Before teleporting away, Issei turned to the group and gave them a smile.

"Keep your cool and you all should do just fine."

All of them nodded and gave him a smile before he disappeared with the magic circle.

\\\

At the same time, in the Underworld, Azazel was in his office back at the Grigori headquarters, was dwelling in his research about Sacred Gears, but stopped when he heard a knock on the door.

From the door came the breathtaking beauty Penemue, Azazel's Chief Secretary.

"Yes?" Azazel asked, his eyes still glued to his files

"The group you sent to Kuoh returned, and they would like to report directly to you." She explained

"I don't have the time. Ask them to write it down and I'll take a look."

"...They said that there were complications that would be best if you heard them risk it someone else to see what they wrote." Penemue added, catching Azazel's curiosity.

"And they also said that they met someone that knew you and asked them to pass on a message to you."

Azazel played with the pen on his hand for a while before deciding. "Alright, send them in."

Penemue left the room to call Raynere, Kalawarner and Mittelt.

When they entered the room, he asked to first tell him about the complications that they faced. As they explained what happened, Azazel's expression hardened.

"...Are you certain that it was Kokabiel?" He asked calmly, getting a nod from the three as answer.

He rested his back on the chair and let out a sigh. "Always the troublemaker..."

He tuned back to his subordinates. "I'm glad that you three made it out. I assume that the one that helped you out is the same that asked you to relay his message?"

Once again they nodded, to which he motioned with his hand for them to tell him the message.

Azazel raised an eyebrow when they started to fidget around, as if they were having trouble speaking.

"Whats wrong? It can't be that bad."

"Azazel-sama," Mittelt called. "The boy who saved us asked us to tell you that.."

"That?" He asked

"That you owed him a strawberry sundae from last time." Kalawarner completed.

Now, the three girls were expecting Azazel to react somehow to this absurd message. What they didn't expect was to see him fall from his chair to the ground and them try to stand up with a shocked expression.

"A-are you sure that's what he said?"

"Y-yes Azazel-sama." Raynere answered hesitantly

Azazel ran past them "PENEMUE! Where are you?! What's the name of the place you go to eat sundaes?!" he shouted through the halls of the Grigori, desperatly searching for his secretary.

...

"What just happened?" Mittelt asked

"It seems that boy is an even bigger mistery than we thought." Kalawarner said with a smile

"Seems so." Raynere said, thinking who could that boy be to cause such a reaction from the Governor of the Fallen Angels.

 **Author's note** **: whats up guys? Back with another chapter after a long time. First, I would like to apologize for the wait, I know its sucks waiting for chapters to come out, but it was just one thing after another on the way. Now, at first I was hoping to be able to put the game on this chapter as well, but the training part ended up being longer than I expected. I think it was necessary in order to develop the relations between Dante and the DXD group. As always, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, feel free to leave your opinion, even if it is a critic about something you didn't like. Also, many thanks to those that reviewed, fav/foll, I greatly appreciate you guys taking your time to check out my fanfic. See you guys next time.**


	6. Life 1-6

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relate to the Devil May Cry or DXD series.**

* * *

 **Hello everyone! Welcome to another chapter. Before anything else, there were some questions left on Guest reviews, which is completly fine, so here and for future chapters, if other questions pop up, I'll answer them at the beginning of the following chapter.**

 **-Ebony and Ivory:** Yes, they will appear on the story. We're almost at the point were I planned their first appearence, so hold just a bit longer those that wanted to see them. In the story, Rebellion speaks to substitute Ddraig and just like him, the two pistols will probably talk as well.

 **-Eva/Nero:** Anyone that thought this is absolutely correct. Other characters from DMC 4 will show up later in the story.

 **-Vali as Vergil:** It's actually a good idea, but unfortunately that won't be the case here. I have different plans for each of them, hope you like them.

 **-DXD group will know about Issei's real identity?** Eventually, yes. All in its due time.

 **I think that is everything for now. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **(the night before the training period had began)**

After leaving Da- Issei's apartment, Grayfia found herself in the Underworld, standing in front of one of the residence that each Maou received along with their titles. More specifically, she stood before the working place of master, Sirzechs Lucifer.

Grayfia entered the small mansion and made her way towards the room where Sirzechs spend most of his time when he stayed there, his office, while greeting the staff that worked there as she passed by.

Stopping in front of the office's door, she knocked on it, making her presence know. Opening the door, she was greeted with the site of piles and piles of paperwork. On the top of the side, below, at each of it's side, any place you could think of you would find paper.

But what almost caused her to narrow her eyes was when she saw the activity in wich her master was occupied with.

With a smile, Sirzechs was folding one of the many papers into something that was common in the human world, an airplane. Lost in his little world, Sirzechs laughed merrily as he watched his new passtime come to fruition once more, as the plane glided across the room.

His laughter came to a halt when something hit his creation, an ice stake to exact. There were only two people he knew that would enter this mansion without causing alarm that were able to freely manipulate ice element, and only one of this two would make her presence know like this. As his face blanched, he slowly turned his head to the direction of the office's door. A veil of malice wrapping around her figure.

He found himself facing the possibility of getting spanked to oblivion by his dutiful [Queen], who through the pressure she was exercing and silent promisse in her eyes of punishment made him carefully think about his next moves.

Thanking all his experience as one of the leaders of the devils, he quickly recovered, his countenance becoming serious with a small smile.

"Oh, wecolme back Grayfia. How did the meeting with the young couple went?" His tone as professional as possible

Grayfia raised an eyebrow at his attempt of moving on from his newest way of avoiding his work.

"Care to tell me what were you doing Sirzechs-sama?" This cause him to flinch inwardly, his smile now forced and his apparent confidence had faded away from his face.

For a brief moment, Sirzechs didn't move at all, still maintaining his smile there and his eyes staring at the distance.

He blinked, staring deep in Grayfia's eyes, apparently having found his answer.

"I don't think that I need to explain myself, after all, I am a Maou." He gambled

And lost miserably.

As soon as he finished speaking, the temperature in the room began to decrease, as did his life expectancy. The floor beneath Grayfia's feet began freezing and it slowly started to make its way to Sirzechs direction.

"Hoh? Is that your answer? You can reconsider if you want."

During the civil war of his kind, among other responsabilities he had as one of the leaders, Sirzechs had to make decisions. And those decisions and their consequences taught him one thing, pick your battles carefully.

As he saw the dark miasma overflowing from the maid, combined with her icy glare, he wilted and decided to take her offer.

He raised his hand, asking her to wait. Only to a second later to start hitting repeatedly the desk.

"This is too boring Grayfia-chaaan! One man can't possibly handle this much paperwork! If I knew that this came with the job I might have decided otherwise~!" He whined while still hitting the desk

Although this sight was not unexpected, it still amazed the silver haired woman that such an important figure of the supernatural world could so easily act like a child throwing a trantum.

"And what's worst," He continued, grabbing the pile on the ground near his desk. "Sera-tan dumped her work on me! She's so cruel to me Grayfia-chan!"

He stared at the maid, puffing his cheeks while having teary eyes, in an attempt to placate the silver haired beauty.

"(sigh) It seems you're off the hook now that is _."_ Grayfia added when she saw a smile appearing in Sirzechs face.

"When the opportunity appears, you and Serafall-sama will lose some time of your day to be reminded of how to properly deal with work related things, **understood**?"

It wasn't a question nor a request, it was a promisse. One which Sirzechs knew he had no way of escaping and it seems he ended up dragging his wife with him. He would have to buy something related to magical girls to compensate her later.

"So, uh, what about the meeting?" He asked hesitantly

"Right."

Grayfia first picked the paper planes from the ground, leaving them at Sirzechs desk before standing before her master.

"It was as expected. Rias-ojou decided to face Raiser on a Rating Game to decide whether the marrige would occur or not."

Sirzechs reclined in his chair. His previous horrified and childish demeanour gone, his more mature and professional demeanour taking place. So far everything was moving according to what he planned.

"Now all that's left is create a scenario where her newest servant can face off against Raiser."

Sirzechs knew that the odds were against his sister in this match. While Rias was strong for her age, it wasn't enough to beat Raiser. And even with Rias knowing all there is to the Rating Games, theory only takes you so far.

Even then, he still believed in the potential that the wielder of the Welsh Dragon held would have good enough of a chance of helping Rias. Enough to the point that he would gamble with the risk of seeming to be helping his family, which was something that a Maou wasn't allowed to do, show favoritism.

"However," Grayfia said, regaining the Crimson Satan's attention. "There were two... surprises, to say the least."

"Oh? Then do tell."

"Aside from Rias-ojou and her peerage, there were two other present at the meeting."

Sirzechs was about to question his [Queen] if those two were Sona Sitri and her [Queen]. It was a possible option, given the close relation between Rias and Serafall's little sister but given Grayfia's wording, he decided to remain silent and hear the maid first.

"The first of the two unexpected guest's was none other than Tiamat."

"... Tiamat as in the Dragon King?" He ask, his expression betrayed nothing.

"Correct."

...

"Well that's certainly surprising." Was all he said after a while

Grayfia arched an eyebrown. "That's all you have to say?"

It wasn't everyday that you would see a Dragon King, even less the strongest one, together with a group of young devils.

"... To be honest, I have no idea how to react as of now to that. I suppose it will depend on what you will say about the latter of the two guest's."

He was well aware that Tiamat had recently formed a familiar contract with someone and was betting that she was only there because of the other unexpected person. If that wasnt the case however, then he would be greatly shocked if she was there because of a member of Rias herself or a member of her peerage.

It was actually a topic that has been frequently discussed whenever there was a meeting with the Maous and the most proeminent members of devil society.

A worrisome topic at that. There was an agreement between the devils and Tiamat that she was free to reside within the Forest of Familiar so long as she acted as the secret administrator for the Rating Games and would appear when something malicious or unexpected that went beyond the established rules happen.

It was controversial as well, given that they haven't heard from the dragon queen after she bonded, they didn't know if she would remain at her job and to make matters worse, they had no idea where she was staying as of know. Thus leading to a debate on how should they proceed on the matter.

On one side, it was argued that, in simple terms, they should drag her ass back to the Underworld and 'kindly' request her to remain on her job. That was asking for trouble. The person in question wasn't one that took well when coerced to do something and she also was considered ultimate-class in terms of powers, reaching Falbium and Serafall easily. Sirzechs and Ajuka weren't accounted only because they were Super Devil's.

Another point that had to be considered was that they had virtually no idea who she had form a contract with. And common sense dictates that if said person beat the Chaos Karma Dragon into submission, then it's highly likely that he was stronger than her, a fact that couldn't be taken lightly. Recapitulating, if they were to follow this plan, they would not only end up antagonizing one of the strongest dragons in history but the unknow factor that was her master. Not the brighest's move since their society as a whole was still recovering from the loses of the last two wars.

The other side, which should be said was composed only by the Maous, didn't cause an immediate consequence as the other option, but on the long run would be more beneficial. They believed that it would be best to simply wait, since Tiamat hadn't declared anything yet and given that dragons in general had their own code of honor, she wouldn't disappear forever without declaring her intentions to her "employers". That way, the chances of conflict were pratically zero.

No action had been taken for now, as at every meeting the two diverging groups would butt their heads on the matter.

"So, who's the other one?"

When Grayfia hesitated to answer, Sirzechs curiosity was piqued once more alongside with his concern, if this person would elicit such a response from the maid.

Those two feelings grew even further when Grayfia raised a barrier inside the room. He narrowed his eyes and concluded that whatever she was about to say, she didn't want it anyone else to hear it.

"... An acquaintance from our times of war." She answered cryptically

Letting these words sink in, the surprised Maou pondered on who could fit the situation a description.

Sirzechs was by no means a young devil, but he also couldn't be considered old, not old enough to have participated in the Great War at least. Leaving only the devil civil war as an option.

From that period there were a few possibilities. It could be someone from the Old Satan Faction, but if his guess of Tiamat being the familiar of the other person, the only one that stood a chance at acomplishing such feat was Rizevim and if he was there Grayfia wouldn't make such mystery and... well, the meeting would have been anything but peaceful.

As far as friendly ones go, there wasn't a lot of options, since it was a war that only concerned devils. In fact, the only one that he could think of was-!

"W-wait, Grayfia you don't mean to say that.." Sirzechs wasn't able to finish the sentence, a lump formed in his throat.

Discarding her cold demeanour, as this wasn't a moment between servant and master but of family in anything but blood, a smile appeared on Grayfia's face.

"... Yes, it was Dante."

Sirzechs stood still, agaped and with wide eyes at what he heard. Grayfia only whatched, letting him fully assimilate what had been said.

Not much later, his face lit up with a thousand watt smile, his child like behavior coming back at full force.

"Are you serious?! Haha I knew he was still out there! Ooh, I have to tell Sera-tan, she'll be thrilled, and Ajuka now owes me from our bet. It's been so long since we spared, I have to compensate the lost time, if I'm not mistaken it was 99 wins for him and 6 to me..." He said, his eyes shining as he remebered the man which he greatly respected.

"He's definetely the one that Tiamat made the contract with. Ne Grayfia-chan, did you and him sort yo-"

He stopped when he took a good look at the beauty. Although she was still staring at him with a smile, in her eyes he saw the amalgam of emotions: biterness, longing, regret and so on.

For a moment he had forgotten that while he and Dante parted without any unfinished bussiness,so to say, the same couldn't be said about Grayfia. He was sure that she still loved him, even after all this time. When he left suddenly without her, it hurted the ice queen. And seeing the man she loved with the dragon queen, it probably only added salt to the injury.

"Guess it wasn't the right time for that?" He asked her softly

Grayfia lowered her head, the bangs of her silver hair shadowing her eyes. Her hands were trembling slightly as she clenched a fistful of her maid dress skirt.

Sirzechs was about to move and try to comfort his [Queen] in one of her rare moments of vulnerability, as he mentally berated himself for having momentarily forgotten how Grayfia had closed herself when Dante vanished after the end of the war.

She had become even more distant than she usually seems to be, but while normally it's just a mask that she wears, that time it wasn't. When alone, usually in the room that she know has at the Gremory manor after deciding to work as the headmaid, she would cry herself to sleep and when she didn't, she spent most nights awake. Sirzechs knew that because of the bags under her eyes that started to appear and in the mornings she had red puffy eyes.

It took a great deal of time and collective effort of those that truly knew her for her to overcome the depression that had taken over her.

As he was at an arm's length from her, she raised her head, causing him to stop.

"It's fine. We'll surely meet again and when we do, I'll speak whats on my mind to him." She stated resolutely, in her eyes the conflicted emotions gone, leaving only her steel-like determination on the matter.

"Heh? And if he tries to skip town after he's done with whatever bussiness he has in Kuoh?"

"Then I'll just convince him otherwise." She answered icily while cracking the joints of one of her hands.

"I see." Sirzechs said with a smile while making a silent prayer for the well being of his old friend.

After that, Grayfia had told the reason for Dante coming to Kuoh and that he was now going by the seventeen years old Hyoudou Issei and that during the ten days period of training for the Rating Game, he would be helping Rias and her peerage.

Sirzechs decided that he would try to dig any information regarding Eva, as he was just as much as Issei in the dark regarding her past and he now thought that maybe Rias had a good chance if his old teacher was looking after his little sister.

He was actually looking forward for the match now.

* * *

 **(Back to the present time)**

Sirzechs anxiously awaited for Grayfia's return, hoping that Issei would join him at the room that was prepared for both the Gremory and Phenex family to watch the match.

"Sirzechs dear, is everything alright? You've been unquiet ever since Grayfia left to tell Rias that the match would start."

Said devil turned to the person who called him, his mother Venelana Gremory. Formerly from the Bael clan, she's the reason why both Sirzechs and Rias inherited the Power of Destruction.

Venelana could easily be mistaken as Rias older sister given her looks. In fact, her appearance is quite similar to that oh her daughter, the only differences being that she has shorter brown hair and violet eyes. All in all, she was a beautiful woman.

"There's nothing wrong mother, but thank you for the concern."

Aside from Venelana, the current head of the Gremory clan, Sirzechs father Zeoticus, was also there. The Maou's son, Milicas, however wasnt there because as he was in the Sitri territory with his grandmother and grandfather from his mother side of the family.

Sitting close to the Gremory's was the current clan head of the Phenex clan alongside his wife and elder son, Ruval, a rather proeminent figure in the Rating Game world.

"Grayfia should be back soon so that the match can start." Zeoticus said as he made small talk with Lord Phenex.

"Indeed, I look forward to see how your daughter will fare against my son. While I do understand her wish of marrying on her own accord, this is something for the greater good of our race." Lord Phenex said

"You speak as if the result was set in stone."

Lord Phenex coughed in his hand. "I don't mean to diminish your daughter, but her opponent isn't someone that will go down without a certain amount of power, and I believe Lady Rias hasn't reach that far yet, nor any member of her peerage, which is incomplete. There's also the fact of her inexpirience, causing me to conclude that Raiser's victory is almost a given." There was a tinge of smugness in his tone, but small enough to let it pass.

' _I wonder if it will really be like that'_ Sirzechs thought.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Zeoticus stated, unfazed by the other lord's blunt words.

"That we will."

Not much later, a magic circle with the Gremory crest appeared on the floor and from there, three different persons emerged.

The first one was the only one that those present expected to see, excluding Sirzechs, Grayfia.

The second one, a boy, outside from being very handsome for someone so young-looking, didn't raised many questions aside from the why was he there.

The last one however, who was instantly recognized when the eyes of the devil aristocracy fell on her, raising various questions and made them tense their bodies. There wasn't any other reaction possible, after all the aura and beauty that the woman before them exhibited was one of a kind, and that few man could say to have the honor of having seen, even fewer could say that had the luck of being with. And given that she has being a heavily discussed topic within the devil society, recognizing the dragon queen Tiamat was expected.

As everyone eyes remained on the dragon lady, Sirzechs took his time to observe Issei. He really was staring at the spitting image of a younger Dante, anyone who knew the man behind the legend would agree but otherwise he would pass unknown. Despite having many things he would like to say, he restrained himself, knowing there would be a time later to do so.

For a brief moment, Issei's eyes met with Sirzechs and flashed him a smirk that quickly faded.

Sirzechs walked towards the newcomers. "I hope that you apologize me for my surprise but I decided to invite the one that helped Rias in her training for the match." He said as he rested one hand in Issei's shoulder.

Nods of acknowledgdment followed, but he knew that what they were more concerned with Tiamat.

"As for the our other guest, I-"

"Why, it is only natural that a familiar would want to spend time with it's master isn't it?" Tiamat interrupted while one of Issei's arm.

Tiamat answered not only why she was there but also the why she had disappeared. She was sure that the present lords would spread word to the others of her appearence and while she felt bad for putting Issei under the spotlight when she stated that she was his familiar, she was quite certain that he could handle it.

The baffled lords turned their gazes to the boy once again, carefully eyeing him.

Issei crinckled his eyes and wave his hand at them.

"Hellooo, I'm Hyoudou Issei, it's a pleasure to know you all~." He flippantly introduced himself.

SMACK

"Ow! What was that for?" Issei asked as he rubbed the back of his head where Grayfia slapped him.

"Take things seriously for a change." She said without sparing a glance at his teary expression

"But I am taking it seriously!"

SMACK

"Ow! Knock it off would ya?"

Venelana and Zeoticus were surprised by the exchange between the boy and Grayfia. Having know the ice queen for quite a while, they knew some of her mannerisms so they were aware that she only reprimend someone physically, usually Sirzechs for his antics, in such a blatantly fashion when she was comfortable or well acquainted with.

"Ah... I'm glad you accepted my son's invitation." Zeoticus started. "I would like to thank you for spending your time preparing my daughter for today."

If this boy who "tamed" the feared Tiamat really trained Rias, then he believed that his daughter chances at today's match had just risen. And by what he saw in a quick glance, Lord Phenex thought the same think if the aphreension he exhibited was anything to go by.

"It's quite alright. The determination and dedication they had through out these days was quite the thing to see."

"It's good to know that Rias didn't lost focus despite the odds." Venelana commented. She didn't liked when her husband had told her of the marriage that had been set between her daughter and Raiser, but there was very little that she could do against it.

Sirzechs claped his hands, getting everyone's attention.

"I think it's time to start the match. Please everyone accomodate yourselves to your liking. Grayfia, feel free to start."

Issei sat on one of the couches that were available in the room, Tiamat instantly sat next to him, almost sitting on him actually, that not being the case only because the need to maintain her image as a composed and respectful person existed.

Grayfia proceeded to create a projection, which was showing the place of the upcoming match.

To Issei's surprise, it was a replica of the school grounds of Kuoh Academy.

In Grayfia's hand were a small magic circle, that would serve as her means to broadcast any information of the match.

 **[Hello everyone. I am Grayfia, a maid from the House of Gremory and today I will be the arbiter of the Rating match between the House of Gremory and the House of Phenex.** **In the name of my Master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I will be keeping my eye on this match. By using both Rias-sama and Raiser-sama's opinion, we created this battlefield which is a replica of the school, Kuoh academy, which Rias-sama attends to in the human world.** **]**

 **[The location where both teams were transported will be their "base". Rias-sama's "base" would be the Occult Research Cub's clubroom located in the old school building. Raiser-sama's "base" would be the Student Council's room located in the new building. For the [Pawns] to use "promotion", please head to the enemy's base to do it. Now it's the time for the commencement of the battle. Also, this match will continue till dawn in the humans time. So, Game starts now.]**

RING RING

At the sound of the school bell, everyone in the room shifted in their sits, watching intently the broadcast.

"Show me how far your conviction to fight for your dream will take you Rias." Issei whispered to himself as he rested his chin on his interlaced fingers.

* * *

"Everyone understood what should be done?" Rias asked her peerage after having created their plan of attack. In front of her was the map of the school layed on the table.

Rias eyed her servants.

The older members of her peerage were the ones that seemed to be able to rein in their anxiety better, with Akeno being the more composed of the three. The [Queen] stood by Rias side, wearing her "onee-sama" mask, awaiting the orders of her [King] to move out.

Kiba and Koneko earlier were trying to keep their minds busy by checking their equipament. Koneko checked if her gloves were well placed, Kiba did the same with the light protection that he was wearing on both his arms and legs, attached to his waist was a sheated sword and crossing his chest was the strap of a carry bag for aikido weapons, such as a bokken, that was on his back.

Eva on the on the other hand, was prattically oozing anxiety, as she was walking back and forth on the clubroom before Rias began to explain how they would proceed, she had tied her long hair in a ponytail, similar to Akeno's, so that it doesn't get in her way when fighting. Asia simply watched from where she was seated the situation.

When all her servants gave her a nod in acknoledgedment, Rias closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Now then, my adorable servants. Are you ready? We can't turn back now. Our enemy is Raiser, who is said to be a genius from the immortal House of the Phenex with a promised career. Now then! Let's go and blow them away!" She declared with a smile

""Yes!""

* * *

After moving out to accomplish what was decided by Rias, leaving only said [King] and Asia back at their base, Eva and Koneko moved towards the gym, already knowing that they would unavoidably confront Raiser's peerage members in there, what remained to be seen was how many and which pieces would be there.

As they reached the gym, Eva was the first to enter and in her hastiness, didn't bothered to check if there was anyone already inside. Koneko followed her lead.

DRILL! DRRRRRRRRRILL!

Koneko promptly looked up, the sound being originated from that direction.

She was met with the sight of the young twins Ile and Nel, Raiser's [Pawns], descending at her direction. Each of them wielding a chainsaw, aimed at Koneko. Both were alarmingly close to the [Rook].

"Disassembling time " They said in unison.

Koneko was able to jump back in time, but the surprise attack was able to take a tuft of her hair as well as trashing her clothes close to her neck. If she were a second late, it would have connected with her body. All that time spent with Kiba really had decreased her reaction time.

When the bar of both chainsaws hit the floor, the turquoise haired twins eyed Koneko, a surprised looked etched in their faces.

"How that didn't work?!"

"We did everything right~!" Both girls whined

Koneko taunted the twins by motioning with her hand to the two to come at her.

\\\

When Eva hear the chainsaws and the sincronized voices of the twins, she turned back and was about to move to assist Koneko.

"You shouldn't drop your guard so easily."

Feeling the iminent danger, Eva quickly ducked and not long after a leg that was aiming at her head passed by.

Eva turned her head to take a peek at her oponent. Behind stood one of Raiser's [Rook], Xuelan.

Noticing that Xuelan hadn't yet ended the motion of her attack, Eva aimed a sweeping attack at the leg that was supporting the china dress beauty.

That caused to Xuelan's back immediatly hit the floor, and to her surprise, she grimaced because of the pain she was feeling in her leg. She couldn't believe that just a sweep could be so strong to the point that even her, a [Rook], felt it.

"Thanks for the advice." Eva said, raising her guard and called forth her Boosted Gear, that now had a different appearence, now possessing another green jewel along with ten golden spikes covering the gauntlet.

[Boost!]

Catching movement in the corner of her eye, she turned her gaze to it's direction and saw the staff user [Pawn] that Issei had pretty much one-shotted at the meeting in the clubroom, Mira, dashing towards her.

Mira raised the staff above her head and swung it in Eva's direction, who easily avoided by sidestepping.

Not wanting to give Eva a chance to react, Mira pressed on her assault, throwing both thrust and sweeping attacks at Eva.

Eva for her part, was actually surprised at how easy it was being for her to dodge the [Pawns] attack's. While she certainly wasn't weak and didn't lacked skill with the staff, she guessed that having passed most of the last ten days running away from Tiamat's attack, Mira's in comparison felt lacking, both in sheer power and viciousness.

After dodging the lastest attack by tilting her head to the side, she grabbed the staff with her left hand and then punched it with her right, breaking it in two.

She then hit the shocked Mira with a backhand of her left arm in her left cheek, causing the [Pawn] to hit the floor a few good meters away from her original spot.

Eva turned to her other opponent, who was already on her feet and moving towards her.

Eva smirked. She couldn't help but think how different the fight was going compare to her fight with the fallen angel. She could do this, she'll beat anyone that stands in her [Kings] way!

[Boost!]

\\\

Koneko nodded to herself as she observed how Eva was fairing against her opponents.

"Hey! Don't ignore us!"

"If you want to watch so badly, them let us take you out of the gam- UFF!"

Koneko punched right in the nose of the twin that was closer to her and dodged the frantic attacks of the other frustrated twin.

After the failed surprise attack, Koneko had adopted a tatic of punishing the twin that left herself more exposed and then evade the other. While Koneko was fairly certain that her extra defense obtained from the [Rook] allowed her to tank the hits of the chainsaws, she wanted to test how much faster she was in a real fight, wanting to see the resulto f hours spent training with Kiba and Issei's seal.

Her tatic so far had been a sucess, the twins speed was a far cry from Kiba's speed and differently from the [Knight], they swang their weapon randomly, without any skill, making it quite easy to read thanks to their simplicity.

The [Pawn] twins were going more frustrated at each of their attempts that ended in failure and added to the damage of each hit they took from the [Rook] without her holding back, they wouldn't last very long if the situation remains like that.

They tried using pyrokinesis on the bar and sawchain of their chainsaws, but that in no way helped them with their problem of not hitting Koneko.

The three of them were now locked on a standoff, one waiting for the other to make a move. They glanced at each other for a second and them each ran at one direction, but not torwards Koneko. Both were running around her, her weapons scratching the gym wood tiles, forming a circle.

Koneko remained still with her guard up, carefully eyeing the twins and waiting for them to make their move.

The tension rising at each passing second, without their usual shouts, they simply dashed at Koneko, one at her front and the other at her back, hopping that this way they would be able to throw her off long enough to land a hit.

Unfortunately Koneko was anything but fazed at their attack. She had to admit however, that if it was the Koneko before the training fighting now, she wouldn't be able to react in time, how much the attack would hurt her is another matter.

Koneko stood still until the last possible second, she then ducked, causing the two chainsaws to hit one another and bounce back from the impact and the twins to lose their footing.

Koneko closed in on the more battered twin, keeping her right fist clenched and in position.

She stepped hard on the floor with her left foot, preparing to throw her punch.

Nel was just comming to terms with hers and her sister lastest failed attempt when all that she was able to see in front of her were the gloved-covered knuckles that a second later hit her square in the face hard, _very_ hard.

PUNCH

Taking advantage of the momentum created from her attack, Koneko took another step and continued to press her fist against Nel's face, with the intension of coliding the [Pawn] head with the gym's floor.

CRASH

Koneko raised her fist and looked at the aftermath. The back of Nel's head was buryed in the hole that was formed because of the impact. Splinters of various sizes were scattered around the point of impact.

The girl eyes were open but there was only her white sclera. The cheek were Koneko had hit was swollen and her mouth was agape, showing her bloodied teeth.

She was alive, but her participation in the game was over.

"NEL!"

A distressed Ile looked at the unmoving body of her sister. She gritted her teeth in anger.

"How dare you do this to my sister!"

She never got an answer and her anger was quickly replaced by surprised when she saw that Koneko was already on her.

Before she could react, Koneko punched the chainsaw in the housing, just bellow the starting pull handle.

The strength of the hit was way above that of Ile, causing her to let go of her weapon.

For Ile, what happened next was too fast for her to understand it immediately. At one moment, she was trying to control the tremble in her hands, result of the last move. The next she felt something press against her throat with her gasping for air and trying to remove whatever that was constricting her.

Koneko had hastily moved to Ile's back after throwing her punch and caught her in a sleeper hold. To end it faster, Koneko kicked Ile's legs admist her struggle, breaking her support.

Ile tried to with all of her remaining strength to make Koneko's arm to let go, but her strength fell sort in comparison. The corners of her sight began to darken, causing her panic to grow even more.

Soon, darkness filled everything, leaving only a small dot right in what would be the middle of her vision.

"R-Raiser-sama..." She managed to say before she fell into unconsciousness.

After being sure that the remaining twin had stopped moving, Koneko laid the body on the floor.

Koneko thought about the fight. She could ended it faster by simply pummeling the two girls but she was satisfied that her training payed off, so the time spent was worth it.

 **[Raiser Phenex-sama's two [Pawns] retires.]**

And just after the annoucement the twins were teleported to the medical facility.

Koneko had began to move to help Eva but after looking at said girl, she decided to wait. For now at least.

\\\

While frustation was the feeling that predominated with Raiser servants that fought against Koneko, with Xuelan and Mira, the feeling was anger.

Anger because at each attack they threw at Eva and didn't connect, the already absurd smile etched in her face, coupled with glitter in her eyes, grew even more.

Mira was holding on each hand a part of her broken staff to attack while Xuelan attacked with kung fu moves, but the only one that came close to graze the white haired girl was Xuelan. When she decided to guard instead of dodge, Xuelan was once more surprised with the girl, she barely budged when she defended with her forearm her kick combined with her pyrokinesis.

Just when they were about to press on the offence once more, they stopped themselves when they heard the annoucement of two [Pawns] from their side retiring. They glanced at the [Rook] that stood stoically in the distance, withouth giving any indication that she would join in the fight.

At least it served as consolation that even if they weren't landing any hits, they were putting enough pressure so that the [Pawn] couldn't do anything other then evade. If they kept it up eventually she would make a mistak-

"Ah!" Eva exclaimed, her eyes open wide. "I was so happy of being able to dodge you girls that I forgot about attacking."

She looked at the duo before slightly bowing. "Sorry about that."

...

Xuelan and Mira face vaulted. Both could already feel a migraine coming, and to make matters worst, Eva really seemed to be speaking honestly, making both more experienced pieces to tremble in anger.

" _T-This insufferable girl!"_

* * *

Back in the room where the Gremory and Phenex clans were watching the game, all that could be heard was laughter, from Sirzechs and his father, after seeing Eva apologizing admist battle.

Issei had hid his face in his hands, attempting to hold back the urge to join the two red haired devils in their little fit. The reason for him trying to hold it in was sitting at his side, Tiamat.

While her expression betrayed nothing that was on her mind, the aura that was rolling off of her showed that she didn't find the scene they seen amusing in the least. But that didn't mean that he would let such teasing material to go to waste.

"Did you thaught her that as well Tiamat?" Issei asked her

If the question irked her, she didn't show it outside of sending a chilling glare at Issei. She then turned her gaze back at the projection that now showed Eva with a awkward smile as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"It seems that I'll have to teach her once more, only with more effort so that she _never_ forget it."

A sadistic smile appeared afterwards.

* * *

Eva felt a feeling of dread crawl up her spine all of the sudden and couldn't help but think that her future held unfortunate moments of pain.

[Boost!]

The sound of the Boosted Gear brought her attention back at the matter at hand. She had let accumulate three boost's, it was enough. Maybe even more than necessary, but given that one was a [Rook], better to be safe than sorry.

"Let's do this!"

[Explosion!]

As soon as the Boosted Gear made the announcement, a reddish aura enveloped Eva, and she could once more feel herself overflowing with power.

Xuelan and Mira readied themselves. They knew which Sacred Gear was before them and knew what it served for, and while it's wielder was, in their eyes, unexperienced in combat, it was well capable of giving them trouble.

Eva closed her eyes and exhaled, when she opened them, they were more sharp-looking and her countanance was far more serious, the opposite of before when se was only defending herself and the air around them seemed to grow thicker.

"Here I come." She exclaimed with a vicious grin

Both of Raiser's girls had tensed up when they noticed the shift in Eva's mood, but the moment when they saw her smirk, they thought that something had changed. They felt as if suddenly they were prey, even if they outnumbered her. For a moment, both girls froze where they stood.

And all that Eva needed was that.

In that moment when their concentration was disrupted, Eva disappeared in a blur before their eyes. The realization that their opponent had made made her move came to them too late.

THUMP

"GAHH!"

Xuelan felt as if something was trying to drill a hole in her stomach, her mouth was wide open as the air in her lungs left her body. While the impact wasn't enough to lift her from the ground, it did caused her to bend forward. After being rendered breathless, all that she felt was pain.

She moved her unbealiving eyes to the point of origin of her pain, what she saw was an outstreched arm with it's fist buried in her stomach. Her gaze trailed from the forearm to the shoulder, finally locking her stare in Eva's face, who was still smirking.

Having turned the tables, Eva pressed on her assault by grabbing Xuelan's head, each hand firmly holding a side, a slammed against her knee.

Xuelan's sight became fuzzy, she couldn't make sense of what she was seeing for now but she wans't concerned with that, what she couldn't believe was that Eva had enough strength to outmatch her defense, a [Rook] defense.

Eva repeated the move, the differance being that her knee was the one to move towards Xuelan.

THUMP

Xuelan coughed, a mixture of saliva and blood coming out. A trickle of blood ran down from her nose. If before she was having a hard time making heads or tails of what she was seeing, now everything was a blur.

Eva clicked her tongue. She had hoped that what she had just done would be enough to put the black-haired girl out of commition but alas, the [Rook] trait really wasn't to be taken lightly.

Mira was running towards the two after having recovered from the shock of the ruthless display that occurred in front of her. If she didn't stop her enemy [Pawn] now, it would be too late for Xuelan.

She was close enough, so she decided to start her kata.

"What?!"

Suddenly, Eva turned around, facing her, with her right arm raised above her shoulder. Eva then began to move said arm as if she was holding a weapon.

Mira narrowed her eyes for a moment. She had no recollection of the girl before her wielding any kind of weapon.

Her question was answered in the next second, as she finally saw what she was holding and it threw Mira off.

Eva was holding a leg, Xuelan's leg. As if the girl was a club of sorts.

Mira imediattely stopped her current move and put her all in dodging. While she knew that in doing so, it could spell the end for Xuelan, Mira didn't possessed the fortitude to tank the hit and keep fighting.

SLAM

"Aahh(cough)(cough)"

The sound when the [Rook] hit the floor reverberated throughout the entire gym, and now Xuelan was coughing even more blood, she couldn't even muster the strength necessary to support herself with her arms. The sight of her comrade quivering in agony on the floor made her pause.

Seeing that the staff user was momentarely distracted with the current state of her friend, lefting herself wide open, Eva jumped at the oportunity.

"Don't drop your guard so easily." Eva said when Mira noticed her closing in, unfortunetely too late to react.

Eva threw a right hook that hit at the same spot that her backhand had earlier, in the jaw.

BUMP

Mira couldn't even react to the pain. The punch dislocated her jaw, but at the time it felt as if the fist would rip it off. She staggered a bit, trying to remain counscious. For a moment, when the punch connect with her jaw, all that she saw was black.

"One last push I think." She hear but couldn't tell from which direction it came.

KICK

Eva hit Mira with all her strength in the chest with the sole of her feet, which sent the girl flying and caused her to crash at the wall behind them. She then fell to floor without any sign of getting up.

"W-we're(cough) not done yet."

Xuelan gritted her teeth as she tried to held in the blood in her mouth and the growing pain at her effort of standing up. She stumbled a bit, her vision still a bit hazy.

' _Not yet, she isn't dead yet..'_

Eva looked at the struggling [Rook], she stared at her eyes. While they were unfocused, beneath it burned her determination to keep fighting.

Xuelan decided that she would pour everything that she had in her next move to take Eva out of the game. She proved to be a threath to her master's supposedly overwhelming victory.

She would bait her with a feint and then hit as hard as she could on the opening that would present itself.

Xuelan narrowed her eyes when Eva raised her arm and aimed her open hand at her. After a second a small, a small red ball began to form in front of the palm of the Boosted Gear. It grew until it became the size of table tennis ball. She saw Eva retreat her arm and prepare to punch the small orb.

The [Rook] would first dodge the small orb then she would attack, she focused intently at it.

BANG

Xuelan fell to her knees, with both her hands on the ground supporting her, not for long as at each moment she the wheight seemed to grow.

Her vision was darkening, she knew she was hit but couldn't believe that she didn't even see it coming. With her mind in turmoil, she fell to the floor.

"Why did you do that Koneko?" Eva asked

Koneko had moved in and had hit the back of Xuelan's head before Eva could fire her attack.

Eva had the moment she saw that Koneko would be hit as well if she were to go through with it.

"... There was no need to use that. It would be overkill." She stated

Eva remembered what had happened the time she first tried out the move when Tiamat thaught her. If the first time, a smaller orb was able to take out a chunk of a mountain, this one would be even more destructive.

"Sorry about that." She apologized while scratching her cheek

 **[Raiser Phenex-sama's one [Pawn] and one [Rook] retires.]**

"Well, we should continue with the plan right?"

"... Speak with Buchou first."

"Oh, right."

She touched the ear piece that Rias gave to everyone so that they would be able to communicate.

* * *

Laughter was all that could be heard back at the room where the clans were watching the game, only this time it was Tiamat laughing. She started when Eva relentlessly attacked Xuelan.

The rest of the inhabitants, minus Issei, were surprised by the brutal way that the wielder of the Boosted Gear fought. The contrast between the way she acted earlier was big and it caught them, some more than others, off guard.

Althought Issei had a pretty good idea as to why Tiamat was acting the way she were, he felt like humoring her.

"And what brought this change of humour?"

She stopped laughing, settling for chuckling. "It's good to see that at least some of the lessons I pounde- thought her stuck with her."

The others were know intently listening to the dragon queen.

"And pray tell, what would that lesson be?" Lord Phenex demanded with an edge of irritation, forgetting who he was speaking with for a moment, the vexation he was feeling after seeing how some of his son's servants were defeated getting the better of him.

Tiamat stared him cooly, causing both the Lord Phenex and his wife to stiffen, both fearing for his well-being.

But for his luck, Tiamat decided to let that one slide.

"Obviously of not showing mercy but obliterating your enemy." She said matter-of-factly

Lord Phenex shifted uncomfortably in his sit under Tiamat's stare.

"Obviously." Issei repeated, amused

"Oh, Souji will be quite pleased." Sirzechs commented as he watched the on-going match

"Raiser Phenex-sama's three [Pawns] retires." Grayfia declared

Issei turned his gaze to the projection and smirked at the sight.

* * *

"Well, in the end it seems only me was enough."

Kiba said to no one in particular as he sheated his sword in his waist. After setting the traps near their base, Kiba awaited to see if any of Raiser servants would show up while attempting to reach the clubroom.

Three of Raiser's girls were lured to the barrier that Akeno had created as soon as the game started. Despite being at a disavantage, Kiba was capable of dealing with them quite easily.

While the difference in speed made it harder for the [Pawns] to hit him, there were a few lucky hits but he was able to brush them off because most hit the pieces of protection he was wearing, as they were intending to disable him, and the ones that hit anywhere else didn't had the same impact as Koneko's punches and kicks.

"Off to the sports court now." He as said as he went to his next objective

* * *

"Don't say it like that, I had complete awareness of what I was doing." Eva whined

The duo were now exiting the gym to group with Kiba at the sports court and deal with whatever hostiles they found there. As they made their way, Eva tried to convince Koneko that the last attack that she planned on using was reasonable to finish the now retired Xuelan.

Koneko turned and stared impassively at her.

"... Opponent could barely stand. Waste of energy to blow half gym away and turn one of many of Raiser's pieces to ashes."

"Ehehe half aware?" Eva asked awkwardly

"... Baka." Eva hung her head at the statement

' _Koneko is so cruel to meee."_ Eva thought humoursly

PUSH

"Eh?"

At one moment Eva was walking close to Koneko, the other said girl pushed her, using a good amount of strength at that, causing her to hit the ground a good distance away .

Before she could try to make sense of why the petite girl did such a thing, a blinding light erupted before her, forcing her to close her eyes.

BOOM

An explosion. Eva now understood. If she had remained there, it would have caught her without a doubt, deeply hurting her or even taking her out. If it weren't for Kone...

"Koneko!"

The dust that was raised served as a curtain, making it hard for her to see the point of impact and worst of all, she couldn't find Koneko.

She was beginning to think the worst when Koneko landed at her side. She had dodged it! Eva was relieved and disappointed at herself that her carelessness had put Koneko in a thight situation.

But this time Koneko didn't came out unscathed, her uniform was gone from her left arm and shoulder, showing the strap of her bra. Her glove was damaged as well, the part that protected her knuckles gone. The worst part was her arm itself, as it was covered in small bruises, blood and dirt.

"... I'm okay Eva-senpai." She stated feeling the concerned stare, but what demanded her attention was the one hovering in the sky

"Oh? You were able to not only get your friend out of harms way but also survive little [Rook]? And here I thought that I would be able to get the drop on you two."

Before the duo stood Yubelluna, Raiser's [Queen] and most powerfull servant, also called the Bomb Queen. Instead of looking disappointed at her miss, her haughty smile showed that she found the situation amusing, her purple eyes observing Koneko intently.

Eva stared at the unexpected enemy. To put it buntly, the woman was a bombshell(no pun intended). She held herself regally as her long wavy purple hair flutter in the air.

"Let's see how long you'll two will be able to dodge yes?"

Eva and Koneko ready themselves for the imminent attack.

But before Yubelluna had the time to do so, a bolt of lightning was shot at her.

"Ara ara. I will be your opponent. Raiser Phoenix-sama's [Queen], Yubelluna-san."

Akeno appeared in the sky, positioning herself in front of Eva and Koneko as she faced the enemy [Queen], who now rested a hand in one of her ears and muttered something.

"The Priestess of Lightning. I was hoping to have a chance to fight you." Yubelluna commented, her attention now solely on Akeno

"You two, meet up with Yuuto-kun. I will take care of here."

"But Akeno-san, we can help with her!" Eva exclaimed

She looked at Koneko for support, but she only found the girl shooking her head at her.

"... We would only stay in Akeno-senpai's way."

"She's a bad match-up for the two of you." Akeno chimed in. "Eva-chan, you have your own role right? Go then."

Eva hesited at first, but relented in the end. The duo rushed to the meeting place.

"Beat the crap out of her Akeno-san!" Eva shouted at the distance

"Ufufufu, of course. I'll retribue ten fold the treatement that she offered to my kouhai."

A yellow aura covered Akeno's body, lighting crackling in her hands.

* * *

Raiser walked through the halls of Kuoh Academy, he had just left the Student Council room and was heading to the building rooftop.

With an impassive expression, he was reflecting on the match so far. The fact that he had already lost some of his servants didn't bother him, that was common on his Rating matches. while his servants weren't the most powerfull out there, discounting his [Queen], he compensate it with his own power and immortality. And in this match he had the numeric advantage, sacrificing some pieces in order to take out the few that Rias had was acceptable.

What he wasn't counting was Yubelluna not having taken out any of those that had beaten his [Pawns] and [Rook]. It had been a good minutes before Yubelluna said through the earpiece that her attack had failed and that she would engage Rias [Queen].

Riser may be was arrogant and brazen, but he had a resemblence of strategic thinking. He was going to the rooftop, alone, hoping to bait Rias into fighting him alone, to appeal at her pride as a high-class devil.

Riser had complete faith that he would be victorius today...

He rested his hand on the pocket of his blazer, feeling the object underneath it. That faith now was permeated with a seed of doubt.

"Shit!"

With a scowl, he gripped the pocket. Holding what that man had given him.

 **(Flashback)**

" _Really? You work under him?!"_

 _The man questioned by Raiser gave him a nod._

" _Yes, he is most impressed with your perfomance so far in the Rating Games Raiser-dono." He answered, while stoically staring at him_

 _Raiser smirked at the praise. "Thank you. I'm pleased to know that he enjoyed the matches. Now what can I do for you?"_

 _Althought the man before him for some reason made him uncomfortable, his connections demanded of Raiser that he showed some level of respect towards him._

" _It is more of what my master would like to do for you. It was accorded that your the matter of your marriage with the Gremory girl would be decided with a Rating match, correct?"_

 _Raiser furrowed his browns. "Yes it was. But I fail to see how that is relevant for someone such as-"_

" _Did you met this boy?" The man interrupted him while showing a picture_

 _The Phenex devil frowned when he saw who it was. That white-haired bastard that openly insulted him. Next time he sees him he'll show him for calling him a gigolo._

" _I don't think that would end favorably for you Raiser-dono." He stated, reading him like a open book. "You're strong, yes, but trust me when I say that for him you would be mere child's play."_

 _Raiser held in his anger at this statement, seeing the stony expression in front of him and also remembering the warning that Grayfia had given that day, he said nothing._

" _Chances are that until the day of the match, he will train the Gremory and her group. If that happens, you will lose." He spoke with finality_

" _... So? I still don't see what you came here for."_

" _Simple. My master wished to believe in your... potential, meaning that he would like to aid you to secure your victory."_

 _Raiser pondered on the offer. the pride on his abilities urged him to say no, but the absolute certainty in his tone that he would lose caused him to hesitate._

" _What kind of help are you talking about?" Riser asked, eyeing him warily_

" _It is quite simple, here allow me to show you."_

 **(Flashback ends)**

His grip thightening over the pocket. If he ended up needing outside help, so be it. If he had to throw away his pride, fine.

He would win this game and have Rias for himself.

No matter the cost.

* * *

 **A/N: Aalright, that's it for now. I actually had a hard time coming up with the fights for this chapter. I wanted to show the results of the training the group faced so I hope that it didn't compromissed the quality of what was written, fighting scenes are still the hardest for me to write.**

 **Onto other matters, we've reached the 100 mark on both fav/follo! Thanks a lot for the support, it is greatly appreaciated!**

 **As per usual, I hope the chapter in general was to everyone's liking and please consider leaving a review, it's always great to read what your thoughts are on the story and all in all, its a nice way to interact with you guys. Feel free to PM if you prefer, I'll answer as soon as I see it.**

 **Oh, a quick and shameless adverstising XD, if you guys are enjoying this story, please consider taking a look at my other story, Nephilim, also on the DXD universe but with more characters from different franchises.**

 **I'll see you guys next time. Have a great day everyone.**

 **R &R**


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